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After  School 


DOMESTICATED 
ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


A   BRIEF  TREATISE    UPON  THE    ORIGIN   AND 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOMESTICATED   RACES 

WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  THE 

METHODS  OF  IMPROVEMENT 


BY 


E.  DAVENPORT,  M.Agr.,  LL.D. 

PROFESSOR    OF   THREMMATOLOGY    IN    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    ILLINOIS 

DEAN    OF   THE    COLLEGE   OF   AGRICULTURE 

DIRECTOR    OF    THE   AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 

BOSTON  .  NEW  YORK  •  CHICAGO  •  LONDON 


COPYRIGHT,  1910,  BY  E.  DAVENPORT 

ENTERED  AT   STATIONERS'  HALL 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

310.9 


W^t  iatftengum   Drcgg 

GINN  AND  COMPANY'  PRO- 
PRIETORS •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

Soon  after  the  appearance  of  "Principles  of  Breeding"  as 
a  college  textbook,  numerous  letters  came  to  both  the  author 
and  the  publishers,  suggesting  a  volume  along  similar  lines,  but 
less  technical  in  treatment  and  better  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
high  and  normal  schools,  and  appealing  more  specifically  to  the 
general  student. 

These  suggestions,  together  with  the  growing  interest  in  agri- 
culture both  as  an  occupation  and  as  a  subject  for  instruction 
in  schools  of  various  grades,  encouraged  the  production  of  the 
present  volume,  which  runs  along  the  same  general  lines  as 
"  Principles  of  Breeding,"  except  that  more  information  is 
afforded  as  to  the  origin  of  domesticated  races  and  the  source 
of  the  materials  out  of  which  they  have  been  formed,  and  less 
space  is  devoted  to  function  and  to  the  more  philosophic  treat- 
ment of  variation  and  heredity. 

More  attention  is  given  also  to  the  general  subjects  of  natural 
selection  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest  as  shown  in  the  way  of 
the  wild,  —  subjects  of  importance  to  the  high-school  student 
as  affording  the  foundation  principles  for  improvement,  and 
also  as  contributing  to  a  more  rational  understanding  of  the 
general  principles  of  evolution  than  commonly  exists  in  the 
popular  mind. 

An  incidental  purpose  has  been  to  insure  the  student  of  the 
secondary  school  an  acquaintance  with  the  essential  facts  of  re- 
production as  illustrated  in  plant  life,  and  with  the  foundation 
principles  in  heredity,  especially  in  degeneracy  and  crime,  as 
illustrated  in  regression  tables  and  the  law  of  ancestral  heredity. 
If  the  author  has  been  at  all  successful  at  this  point,  the  student 
will  derive  indirectly  and  by  inference,  through  this  study  of 

iii 

248595 


IV  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

animals  and  plants,  a  certain  knowledge  of  human  relations  which 
in  all  likelihood  he  would  be  unable  to  secure  by  the  method  of 
direct  instruction,  and  yet  which  all  thinking  people  need  to 
possess,  not  only  for  their  own  protection,  but  for  the  intelligent 
interpretation  of  public  affairs  along  sociological  lines. 

After  all,  the  main  purpose  of  the  book  and  the  main  hope 
of  the  writer  is  to  interest  the  student  in  affairs  of  the  farm, 
and  to  enlist  on  the  part  of  high  schools  the  same  interest  in 
the  teaching  of  agriculture  and  the  preparation  for  the  affairs  of 
country  life  as  is  now  exercised  in  the  teaching  of  other  sub- 
jects and  the  preparation  for  other  phases  of  life.  Wherever  this 
new  departure  has  been  made  it  has  been  found  that  the  educa- 
tional value  of  subjects  drawn  from  real  life  is  surprisingly  great, 
and  the  social  and  economic  results  are  beyond  computation. 
The  hope  to  help  this  work  forward  has  been,  perhaps,  the  chief 
inspiration  in  the  preparation  of  the  following  pages. 

EUGENE  DAVENPORT 
University  of  Illinois 
Urbana 


TO  THE  TEACHER 

This  book  is  so  arranged  as  to  be  adapted  either  to  a  brief 
or  to  a  more  extended  course  of  study,  a  double  purpose  which 
is  accomphshed  by  dividing  the  subject  matter  into  two  parts. 

Part  I  may  be  taken  alone,  constituting  a  brief  course  covering 
the  essential  principles  that  are  fundamental  to  an  understanding 
of  hereditary  transmission  and  of  the  business  of  plant  and 
animal  improvement. 

Part  II  can  be  employed  either  as  additional  text  or  as  refer- 
ence matter,  at  the  option  of  the  teacher,  and  depending  upon 
the  time  that  is  available. 

In  any  case,  whatever  use  is  made  of  Part  II,  either  as  text 
or  reference,  it  should  be  in  connection  with  Part  I,  and  not  as 
succeeding  it ;  that  is  to  say.  Part  1 1  should  be  taken  in  con- 
nection  with  or  immediately  following  the  first  three  chapters 
of  Part  I,  and  this  use  of  Part  II  is  highly  recommended,  be- 
cause here,  is  a  collection  of  information,  not  commonly  avail- 
able, that  throws  light  not  only  upon  the  sources  of  material 
out  of  which  domesticated  races  have  been  made,  but  also  upon 
many  of  the  essential  steps  in  improvement. 

The  author  is  especially  anxious  that  the  suggestions  and  ex- 
ercises offered  at  the  close  of  the  chapters  be  accepted  and  fol- 
lowed. Each  topic  affords  material  full  of  interesting  and 
profitable  study,  always  from  the  standpoint  of  utility;  and  if 
the  students  will  make  some  independent  studies  of  this  kind, 
they  will  be  doubly  repaid  not  only  in  the  wealth  of  informa- 
tion accumulated,  but  in  the  experience  gained  in  independent 
methods  of  study. 

With  the  information  afforded  in  the  Appendix  the  teacher 
will  be  able  to  introduce  the  subject  of  stock  judging.  This  in- 
troduction should  be  made  early  and  continued  throughout  the 


vi      •     DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

study  of  the  text.  Almost  any  neighborhood  will  afford  speci- 
mens entirely  suitable  for  this  purpose. 

A  glossary  of  terms  will  be  found  convenient  in  connection 
with  both  text  and  reference  reading. 

More  explicitly,  the  purpose  of  the  first  three  chapters  is  to 
bring  out  the  way  in  which  our  domesticated  races  came  among 
us,  and  our  dependence  upon  their  services.  In  this  connection 
and  at  this  point  should  come  as  much  as  possible  of  the  detailed 
study  of  separate  species  as  given  in  Part  II. 

The  intent  of  the  writer  at  this  point  is  fourfold  :  first,  to 
arouse  interest  in  the  field  which  affords  the  subject  matter  of 
the  real  discussion ;  second,  to  bring  together  a  body  of  knowl- 
edge about  domesticated  animals  and  plants  on  which  the  student 
may  rely,  making  it  possible  for  other  chapters  to  be  less  con- 
crete and  more  abstract ;  third,  to  connect  that  body  of  knowledge 
with  the  zoolog}^  and  the  botany  of  the  high  school ;  fourth,  to 
give  the  student  some  acquaintance  with  the  behavior  of  ani- 
mals and  plants  both  in  a  state  of  nature  and  when  undergoing 
domestication. 

Chapters  V  and  VI  are  designed  not  only  to  bring  out  the 
power  of  selection,  but  also  to  give  the  student  some  working 
knowledge  of  the  complicated  manner  in  which  it  operates  in 
nature.  Both  error  and  bad  science  abound  through  the  failure 
to  distinguish  between  the  facts  of  nature  and  the  poetic  license 
that  is  often  employed  by  writers  who  choose  nature  subjects  as 
means  of  teaching  human  truths.  This  kind  of  anthropomor- 
phism we  may  wink  at,  if  we  understand  what  is  meant  when 
animals  are  made  to  talk  and  trees  and  flowers  to  think  ;  but  we 
cannot  forgive  that  kind  of  pseudoscience  wherein,  though  the 
purpose  of  the  writer  is  plainly  to  teach  the  facts  of  nature,  yet 
the  facts  are  either  badly  distorted  or  incompletely  conveyed. 

In  Chapter  VII  the  distinct  purpose  is  to  draw  the  attention 
away  from  the  animal  or  plant  as  an  individual  and  direct  it  to 
the  more  or  less  independent  units  of  which  it  is  composed. 
A  train  of  cars  seen  at  a  distance  looks  like  a  single  unit,  but 


TO  THE  TEACHER  vii 

when  more  closely  examined  it  is  found  to  consist  not  only  of 
engine  and  of  separate  cars,  but  also  of  wheel  and  axle,  brake 
and  drawbar.  The  whole  is  actuated  by  the  energy  of  the  coal  and 
controlled  by  intelligence,  acting  through  steam  and  compressed 
air,  by  means  of  lever  brake  and  bell  cord. 

Chapter  VIII  introduces  a  brief  study  of  the  variability  of  a 
single  character,  and  it  serves  not  only  to  fix  conceptions  as  to 
type,  but  as  an  introduction  to  statistical  methods  of  study  now 
much  employed  in  the  problems  of  breeding.  This  chapter  will 
afford  material  for  an  exceedingly  valuable  class  of  problems, 
and  its  mastery  is  especially  urged. 

In  Chapter  IX  the  attempt  is  made  to  convey  the  essential 
facts  of  reproduction  and  lay  the  foundation  for  the  study  of 
heredity  through  the  medium  of  the  plant.  The  hope  is  that 
here  and  in  Chapters  X  and  XI  more  is  taught  by  inference 
than  is  taught  directly.  It  has  been  a  secondary  aim  of  the 
author  to  convey  knowledge  and  make  impressions  that  are 
applicable  to  certain  human  relations  as  well  as  to  the  subject 
in  hand,  but  which  from  the  nature  of  the  case  cannot  be 
conveyed  by  the  direct  method. 

Chapters  XI  and  XII  are  designed  to  teach  rational  notions 
of  descent  and  to  correct  the  prevalent  notion  that  heredity  in 
some  way  fails  unless  the  offspring  is  a  duplicate  of  the  parent. 
The  old  dogma  that  like  begets  like,  and  that  the  offspring  is 
like  the  parent,  is  modified  to  read,  ''  The  offspring  is  like  the 
parentage,"  and  the  succeeding  chapter  deals  with  the  distri- 
bution of  hereditary  family  qualities  through  the  various  mem- 
bers of  the  back  ancestry.  It  is  hoped  that  the  careful  study  of 
these  chapters  will  prepare  the  student  for  the  real  behavior  of 
characters  in  transmission,  and  will  enable  him  to  comprehend 
both  regression  and  progression,  as  well  as  reversion  and  de- 
generacy. It  will  also  serve  to  show  that  transmission  and 
heredity  are  complicated,  not  simple,  facts. 

Chapter  XIV  discusses  the  relative  influences  of  heredity  and 
environment,  a  discussion  that  is  useful  from  the  standpoint 


viii  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

of  breeding,  and  even  more  so  from  the  standpoint  of  human 
experience,  particularly  when  we  take  into  account  the  popular 
confusion  of  mind  on  these  two  points.  The  average  student, 
noting  the  powerful  influence  of  environment  in  the  develop- 
ment of  inherited  tendencies,  is  likely  not  to  fully  realize  that 
the  environment  is  powerless  except  when  the  possibilities  are 
presented  by  heredity.  A  study  of  this  chapter  should  help  to 
clear  the  mind  of  the  student  on  this  point. 

Chapter  XV  is  designed  to  acquaint  the  student  with  some 
of  the  practical  facts  and  problems  connected  with  the  actual 
improvement  of  animals,  and  is  frankly  admitted  as  designed 
to  stimulate  interest  in  grading. 

Chapter  XVI,  dealing  with  plants,  is  intended  to  make  the 
methods  of  improvement  still  more  familiar  and  to  stimulate  a 
desire  to  take  a  hand  in  its  trial,  which,  if  seriously  undertaken, 
will  be  found  not  only  interesting  but  highly  educative. 

Chapters  XVII-XXI  deal  with  the  origin  of  domesticated 
races,  and  are  designed  as  supplementary  text  or  as  reference 
matter,  according  to  the  needs  of  the  school. 

Any  good  high  school  may  undertake  something  definite  in 
the  way  of  animal  and  plant  studies  with  reference  to  practical 
improvement.  The  principles  laid  down  in  the  text  and  the  dis- 
cussion are  ample  to  enable  it  to  do  so,  if  teacher  and  pupil 
alike  are  so  disposed,  and  the  school  may,  if  it  will,  become  a 
force  in  the  neighborhood. 

First  of  all,  it  should  have  a  little  land  on  which  at  least  a 
collection  of  common  plants  may  be  studied.  A  vacant  lot  in 
the  city  or  a  corner  of  a  field  in  the  country  will  answer,  but  a 
definite  piece  of  land  near  the  school,  set  aside  for  the  purpose, 
is  more  desirable  than  either. 

With  the  growing  interest  in  agriculture,  the  best  schools  are 
being  provided  not  with  a  farm  which  they  do  not  need,  but 
with  a  field  of  five  to  ten  acres  for  experimental  and  demon- 
stration purposes,  which  they  do  need.  This  work  may  well 
occupy  a  place  in  such  a  field. 


TO  THE  TEACHER  ix 

At  the  least  let  the  school  study  variability.  This  may  be 
done  advantageously  with  four  classes  of  cultivated  plants, 
namely,  flowers,  garden  vegetables,  small  fruits,  and  farm  crops. 

Of  the  first,  pansies,  petunias,  sweet  peas,  and  hollyhocks  are 
well  adapted  to  the  purposes ;  of  vegetables,  the  best  are  pota- 
toes and  squashes;  of  small  fruits,  strawberries  and  raspberries; 
and  of  farm  crops,  none  is  better  than  corn,  though  wheat,  oats, 
timothy,  and  clover  all  exhibit  pronounced  variations. 

In  some  of  these  cases  variability  may  be  conveniently  in- 
creased by  crossing,  as  with  the  sweet  pea,  hollyhock,  squash, 
and  corn  ;  and  in  the  potato  and  strawberry  an  endless  supply 
of  new  strains  may  be  had  by  planting  the  seeds. 

If  at  all  possible,  this  study  of  variability  should  be  accompanied 
by  attempts  at  improvement,  which  is  especially  easy  with  flowers 
and  not  at  all  impossible  with  such  crops  as  potatoes  and  corn. 

Large  animals  are,  for  the  most  part,  out  of  reach  of  the 
operations  of  the  school,  except  as  it  can  draw  upon  the  farm 
animals  of  the  neighborhood,  which  everywhere  afford  material 
practically  unlimited,  both  in  numbers  and  variety. 

There  is  no  more  favorable  material  for  study,  however,  than 
chickens,  and  a  small  poultry  plant  is  entirely  feasible  and  in 
every  way  desirable  in  connection  with  the  school. 

It  is  fundamental  that  some  one  be  definitely  charged  with 
the  responsibility  and  care  of  any  and  all  plants  and  animals 
kept  for  school  purposes.  This  responsibility  and  care  may 
properly  devolve  upon  the  same  party  who  cares  for  the 
building  and  the  grounds. 

It  may  seem  to  some  that  to  do  work  of  this  sort,  and  to  study 
matters  of  this  kind,  is  not  the  proper  function  of  the  school, 
and  that  its  advocacy  is  a  passing  fancy.  To  such,  let  the  author 
say  that  a  new  era  is  upon  us,  —  an  era  in  which  at  least  a  por- 
tion of  the  time  and  energy  of  the  schools  must  be  devoted  to 
useful  things,  and  to  none  more  properly  than  to  the  industry 
of  agriculture,  which  directly  engages  the  lives  of  one  third  of 
our  population  and  provides  food  for  all  the  people. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I 

THE  MEANING  OF  DOMESTICATED  RACES  AND  THE 
MANNER  OF  THEIR  IMPROVEMENT 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Dependence  of  Man  upon  Domesticated  Animals 

AND  Plants 3 

Animals  and  plants  as  sources  of  food  —  As  sources  of  cloth- 
ing—  As  sources  of  shelter  —  Vegetable  products  as  sources 
of  heat  and  light  —  Dependence  of  man  upon  animal  labor  — 
Animals  a  means  of  recreation  —  Animals  and  plants  as  sources 
of  raw  material  for  manufacturing  purposes  —  Medicinal  prop- 
erties of  animals  and  plants  —  The  business  of  farming 

II.  Domesticated  Races  originated  in  the  Wild  ...      11 

Domesticated  races  Vary  —  Creation  not  yet  finished — Most 
domesticated  races  have  close  relatives  in  the  wild —  Domesti- 
cated species  existed  first  in  the  wild  —  Species  change  in  domes- 
tication—  Improvement  sometimes  slight  —  Domestication  a 
gradual  process  —  How  the  history  of  domestication  is  known 

—  Not  always  able  to  identify  the  original  —  Distinction  between 
feral  and  wild 

III.  How  Animals  and  Plants  came  to  be  Domesticated      20 

Domestication  the  result  of  necessity  —  Need  for  help  in  the 
hunt  —  Need  for  additional  food  —  Need  for  clothing  and  shel- 
ter—  Need  for  labor —  Domestication  the  first  step  in  civiliza- 
tion —  The  civilizing  effect  of  slavery  —  What  animals  have 
done  for  us  —  Unused  materials  —  Lost  possibilities  — Domes- 
tication a  gradual  process  —  Species  that  were  domesticated 

IV.  Need    of    Improvement    in    Domesticated    Animals 

and  Plants 35 

Natural  species  not  perfectly  adjusted  to  our  needs  —  Main- 
tenance of  animals  costly  —  Further  improvement  needed  — 
Need  of  more  economic  service  —  Some  individuals  better 
than  others  —  Economic  significance  of  differences  in  efficiency 

—  The  fact  of  variability  established  —  Variability  in  a  single 
character  —  Historical  knowledge  of  original  species  needed 


xii  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

V.  The  Way  of  the  Wild 50 

The  astonishing  abundance  of  life  —  The  struggle  for  exist- 
ence —  Selective  effect  of  the  natural  conditions  —  Competition 
for  food  —  Competition  for  room  —  Competition  most  severe 
between  individuals  of  the  same  species  —  Natural  selection  — 
Survival  of  the  fittest  —  The  individual  and  the  race  —  Signifi- 
cance of  numbers  —  Significance  of  vigor  and  length  of  life  — 
Significance  of  offensive  and  defensive  weapons  —  Significance 
of  protective  coloring  and  markings — Mimicry — Design  in 
nature  —  Causes  of  color  in  animals  and  plants 

VI.  Effect  of  Natural  Selection 83 

Natural  selection  means  progressive  development  —  Effect  of 
selection  upon  the  individual  —  Selection  good  for  the  species 
that  can  endure  it  —  Selection  fatal  to  a  race  that  cannot  en- 
dure its  hardships  —  Interest  of  the  individual  and  the  race 
not  identical  —  A  close  fit  between  a  species  and  its  environ- 
ment is  inevitable  —  Apparent  exceptions  due  to  absence  of 
severe  selection  —  Adaptation  not  necessarily  perfect — Our 
standards  of  selection  differ  from  those  of  nature  —  Not  all  the 
results  of  natural  selection  are  useful  to  us  —  Our  standards 
often  require  much  readjustment  of  domesticated  species  — 
Natural  selection  always  at  work  —  Power  of  selection  to 
modify  type 

VII.  Unit  Characters       98 

Unit  of  study — Species  composed  of  definite  characters  — 
Every  individual  possesses  all  the  characters  of  the  race  — 
Characters  developed  and  characters  latent — Characters 
dominant  and  characters  recessive —  Correlation  of  characters 
—  Lost  characters  —  New  characters  —  Characters  apd  unit 
characters 

VIII.  Variability  of  a  Single  Character 105 

Critical  study  of  a  single  character  —  Types  —  Plotting  the 
frequency  curve  —  The  mean  —  The  typical  individual  —  Vari- 
ability or  deviation  from  type  —  Average  deviation  —  Standard 
deviation  —  Coefficient  of  variability  —  Suggestions  as  to  tak- 
ing measurements  —  Suggestions  as  to  grouping — Sugges- 
tions as  to  numbers  —  Suggestions  as  to  taking  samples  — 
Advantages  of  statistical  studies 

IX.  How  Characters  are  Transmitted 121 

Every  species  of  its  own  kind  —  The  machinery  of  transmis- 
sion—  Fertilization —  Fertilization  in  general — The  material 
transmitted  —  Chromosomes  —  Development,  or  growth  and 
differentiation  —  Termination  to  growth 

X.  When  Development  goes  Wrong 130 

Differentiation  with  development  —  Underdevelopment,  or 
dwarfing — Overdevelopment,  or  giants  —  Arrested  develop- 
ment of  a  single  character  or  part  —  Overdevelopment  of  a 
single  part — Doubling  of  parts — Fusing  of  parts  —  When 
unit  characters  get  misplaced  —  Abnormal  growths 


CONTENTS  Xlll 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 


XL    How  Characters  behave  in  Transmission  .     .     .     .141 

Characters  tend  to  combine  in  definite  mathematical  propor- 
tions —  Characters  that  do  not  blend  —  Mendel's  law  of 
hybrids  —  Dominant  and  recessive  characters  —  Pure  races 
may  spring  from  crossing  —  Very  few  individuals  pure  —  A 
second  method  of  improvement —  Improvement  by  hybridiza- 
tion complicated  —  Mutation  and  mutants  —  Origin  of  new 
and  improved  strains 

XII.  How   THE    Offspring  compares   with  the  Parent, 

or  Descent  with  Modification 154 

The  complex  nature  of  heredity  —  The  offspring  not  like  the 
parent —  Mediocrity  the  common  lot,  whatever  the  parentage  ; 
regression  —  Some  offspring  better  and  some  worse  than  their 
parents  —  The  exceptional  parent  and  his  offspring  —  Pro- 
gression —  The  exceptional  offspring  and  his  parent —  Rever- 
sion —  Degeneracy 

XIII.  The  Law  of  Ancestral  Heredity 166 

The  extent  to  which  the  offspring  resembles  the  parent  and 
the  extent  to  which  he  resembles  more  remote  ancestors  — 
Chance  of  resembling  a  particular  individual  ancestor — The 
individual  a  composite  —  The  number  "  two  " 

XIV.  Heredity  and  Envijionment 171 

Mistaken  estimate  of  environment  —  All  the  characters  of  the 
race,  both  good  and  bad,  are  transmitted  to  the  individual  by 
his  parentage  —  The  function  of  environment  is  to  assist  or 
to  hinder  in  development  —  Environment  does  not  add  unit 
characters  —  Modifications  due  to  environment 

XV.  Systematic  Improvement  of  Animals      .     .     .     .     .178 

Origin  of  the  "  pure  bred  "  —  Pedigree  registers  —  Advanced 
registry  —  Unregistered  stock  and  scrubs  —  Systems  of  breed- 
ing—  Source  of  sires  —  Herd  improvement  and  breed  im- 
provement—  Rational  improvement — Choosing  the  breed  — 
Breed  differences  slight  —  Market  classes  and  grades  — 
Knowledge  of  market  requirements  needful 

XVI.  Systematic  Improvement  of  Plants 198 

Improvement  by  selection  —  Crossing  to  produce  new  varieties 

—  Application  of  Mendel's  law  in  crossing —  Separation  of  the 
desired  character — Behavior  of  the  recessive  —  Behavior  of 
the  dominant  —  When  more  than  two  characters  are  involved 

—  Systems  of  planting — Records 


xiv         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

PART  II 
THE  ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  RACES 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XVII.    Origin  of  Domesticated  Animals 207 

Domesticated  mammals  —  The   dog  —  The  horse  —  The  ass 

—  The  ox  —  The  sheep  —  The  goat — The  pig  —  The  cat  — 
Domesticated  birds  —  The  hen  —  The  goose  —  The  duck  — 
The  turkey  —  The  peacock  —  The  swan  —  The  guinea  fowl 

—  Additional  races  and  semidomestication  —  Unwelcome 
domestication 

XVIIL  Origin  of  Cultivated  Grains  and  Grasses     .     .    241 

Cultivated  plants,  like  domesticated  animals,  originated  in  the 
wild  —  Wheat  —  Barley  —  Indian  Corn  —  Oats  —  Rye  —  Rice 

—  Sorghum  —  Sugar  Cane  —  Millet  —  Buckwheat  —  Timothy 

—  Blue  Grass  —  Redtop  —  Orchard  grass  —  The  Festucas  — 
Miscellaneous  grasses 

XIX.  Origin  of  the  Cultivated  Legumes 257 

Clover  — Alfalfa  — The  lentil  — The  bean  — The  pea  — The 
vetch  —  The  lupine  —  The  soybean  —  The  cowpea 

XX.  Origin  of  Cultivated  Fruits 267 

The  apple  —  The  pear — ^  The  plum. —  The  sour  cherry  —  The 
peach  —  The  apricot  —  The  orange  and  the  lemon  —  The 
banana — The  pineapple — The  grape — The  strawberry  — 
The  raspberry  —  The  blackberry  —  The  melon — Miscella- 
neous fruits 

XXI.  Origin    of    P'arm    and    Garden    Vegetables    and 

Miscellaneous  Plants 285 

The  potato  —  The  sweet  potato  —  Miscellaneous  tubers  — 
Edible  Roots  —  The  onion  —  The  beet  —  Manioc,  or  mandioca 

—  The  turnip  —  Miscellaneous  roots  —  Vegetables  cultivated 
for  their  foliage  —  Cabbage  —  Celery  —  Lettuce  —  Asparagus 

—  Plants  cultivated  for  beverage  —  Coffee  —  Tea  —  Mate  — 
Plants  grown  for  sedative  effect  —  The  poppy  —  Coca  —  The 
betel  —  Tobacco  —  Fiber  plants  —  Cotton  —  Flax  —  Hemp  — 
Ornamental  plants  —  Weeds 

Appendix 301 

Glossary 312 

Index 3'7 


DOMESTICATED 
ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


PART  I 

THE  MEANING  OF  DOMESTICATED  RACES  AND 
THE  MANNER  OF  THEIR  IMPROVEMENT 

CHAPTER   I 

THE  DEPENDENCE  OF  MAN  UPON  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS 
AND  PLANTS 

Animals  and  plants  as  sources  of  food  •  As  sources  of  clothing  •  As  sources 
of  shelter  •  Vegetable  products  as  sources  of  heat  and  light  •  Dependence  of 
man  upon  animal  labor  •  Animals  a  means  of  recreation  •  Animals  and  plants 
as  sources  of  raw  material  for  manufacturing  purposes  •  Medicinal  properties 
of  animals  and  plants  •  The  business  of  farming 

Few  realize  the  extent  of  our  dependence  upon  the  plant  and 
animal  life  about  us,  and  the  variety  of  ways  in  which  domesti- 
cated animals  and  cultivated  plants  have  been  made  to  serve  the 
interests  and  forward  the  plans  and  purposes  of  man. 

Animals  and  plants  as  sources  of  food.  Aside  from  air  and 
water  there  is  no  article  of  food,  common  or  uncommon,  that 
does  not  come  directly  from  the  animal  or  the  plant. 

Meat,  milk,  and  eggs,  the  three  standard  animal  foods,  repre- 
sent the  body  and  its  products.  Bread,  however  made,  represents 
the  starchy  seeds  of  certain  plants,  and  edible  oils  are  invariably 
of  either  plant  or  animal  origin. 

To  these  staples  we  add,  for  luxury  and  for  health,  a  great 
variety  of  fruits  and  vegetables,  not  to  mention  sweets,  but  they 
all  arise  from  plant  life  somewhere  in  the  world. 

Most  of  the  food  plants  are  cultivated,  and  most  of  the 
animals  are  domesticated.  The  savage  may  live  by  the  hunt, 
but  it  is  one  of  the  first  evidences  of  civilization  that  a  race 

3 


4.(;  ;^  ^i/TOMESTICAT,ED. ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

provides  an  ample  and  assured  food  supply  in  its  domesticated 
animals  and  cultivated  crops. 

To  be  sure,  a  certain  amount  of  meat  still  comes  from  game 
like  the  deer  and  the  moose,  but  the  proportion  is  small  and  is 
growing  smaller  every  year.  The  pioneer,  like  the  Indians,  de- 
pended largely  on  the  hunt,  but  the  buffalo  is  extinct  and  the 
game  animals  generally  are  restricted  to  the  protected  preserves 
where  they  linger  only  by  virtue  of  stringent  laws. 

Fish  have  been  strictly  undomesticated  in  the  past,  but  now 
all  the  promising  rivers  and  lakes  are  systematically  "  stocked," 
so  that  even  these  lowest  of  all  food  animals  are  almost  half 
domesticated,  in  that  they  are  systematically  cared  for.  Any 
way  we  study  the  problem  we  always  arrive  at  the  same  conclu- 
sion, namely,  that  we  are  absolutely  dependent  for  food  upon 
the  products  of  plant  and  animal  life. 

Animals  and  plants  as  sources  of  clothing.  Primitive  man 
clothes  himself  in  skins,  like  the  Eskimo,  if  he  needs  their 
warmth,  or  in  grasses,  like  the  Fiji  islander,  if  he  does  not. 
Civilized  man,  however,  refining  upon  savage  customs,  weaves 
a  cloth  out  of  the  fiber  of  the  pelt  or  of  the  leaf,  and  cuts  him- 
self garments  that  fit  the  body  and  lend  themselves  to  its  move- 
ments. In  this  way  the  wool  of  the  sheep  and  the  fiber  of  the 
cotton  and  the  flax  furnish  the  material  out  of  which  the  world 
clothes  itself. 

Aside  from  furs,  and  many  of  these  come  from  lambs  and 
from  cats,  we  draw  our  clothing  supply  from  animals  and  plants 
living  under  the  direct  management  and  control  of  man,  that 
is,  domesticated.  The  wool  of  the  sheep,  the  fur  of  the  vicufla, 
and  the  hair  of  the  llama  and  the  alpaca  are  all  body  coverings 
shorn  for  spinning.  The  fiber  of  cotton  and  of  flax  represent 
two  of  our  principal  crops  the  world  over,  and  the  silk  that  is 
spun  by  the  insignificant  worm  represents  an  industry  involving 
thousands  of  people,  millions  of  worms,  and  acres  of  mulberry 
trees.  In  clothing,  therefore,  as  in  food,  our  supply  is  mainly 
drawn  from  domesticated  races. 


THE  DEPENDENCE  OF  MAN  5 

Animals  and  plants  as  sources  of  shelter.  Such  of  our  ances- 
tors as  were  fortunate  enough  to  inhabit  mountain  districts  hved 
in  caves,  but  as  the  more  venturesome  and  ambitious  sought 
their  fortunes  on  the  plains,  where  civiHzation  develops,  they 
made  themselves  tents  or  tabernacles  of  the  skins  of  animals 
and  afterward  of  woven  cloth.  Only  later  were  shelters  built  of 
lumber,  bricks,  or  stone.  Our  own  race  has  developed  its  civili- 
zation in  habitations  made  of  wood,  but  with  the  passing  of  the 
years  and  the  destruction  of  natural  forests,  we  shall  rnore  and 
more  build  of  indestructible  materials  not  the  product  of  either 
plant  or  animal  life. 

For  our  furniture  and  our  furnishings,  however,  we  shall 
always  be  dependent  upon  both,  and  we  cannot  say,  even  in 
this,  that  man  is  independent  of  the  humbler  life  about  him. 
Though  in  the  past  his  draft  for  building  materials  has  been 
upon  natural  supplies  and  not  upon  domesticated  races,  yet  the 
attention  that  is  now  being  given  to  forestry  indicates  the  neces- 
sity of  protecting  and  renewing  the  timber  supplies  in  ways  that 
amount  almost  to  a  domestication  of  our  valuable  woods. 

Vegetable  products  as  sources  of  heat  and  light.  For  ages 
wood  has  warmed  the  body  of  suffering  man,  cooked  his  food, 
and  lifted  the  shadows  from  his  soul.  Not  until  after  the  open- 
ing of  the  twelfth  century  ^  did  we  begin  to  draw  upon  our  coal 
deposits,  and  not  until  recent  years  have  petroleum  and  natural 
gas  ranked  as  heat-  and  light-producing  materials. 

But  whether  wood  or  coal,  petroleum  or  gas,  all  reduce  to  the 
^ame  ultimate  basis,  —  vegetable  growth  and  the  carbon  of  the 
atmosphere  harnessed  by  the  green  of  the  leaf  operating  under 
the  energy  of  the  sun. 

None  of  these  sources  of  heat  is  from  cultivated  plants,  but 
the  world  supply  of  coal,  and  therefore  of  petroleum  and  gas,  is 
limited,  so  that  at  no  distant  day  we  shall  be  obliged  to  secure 
our  heat  either  from  the  sun  direct,  from  wood   growing  in 

1  It  is  supposed  that  the  first  charter  for  mining  coal  was  granted  by 
Henry  III  to  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  1239. 


6  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

cultivated  forests,  or  from  alcohol  produced  by  the  starchy 
grains  and  vegetables. 

In  early  days  the  fat  of  animals  or  of  plants  served  for  illumi- 
nation, but  with  petroleum  they  passed,  probably  forever,  out  of 
use,  and  it  is  more  than  likely  that  in  respect  to  illumination  we 
shall  be  independent  of  both  animals  and  plants. 

Dependence  of  man  upon  animal  labor.  To  harness  the  ani- 
mals and  put  them  to  work  is  one  of  the  primitive  instincts  of 


^^^  ^^^^^H 

^^M 

^^^^'-«       ^^^^H 

^^^^^^H 

'  _,  ^^W!^^ 

^M 

tv-f 

^^H 

mk 

H 

Fig.  I.    The  famous  Percheron  stallion  Brilliant 
After  a  painting  by  the  great  animal  artist  Rosa  Bonheur 

man,  and  a  book  would  be  required  even  to  outline  the  thou- 
sand ways  in  which  man  has  been  helped  by  his  dumb  com- 
panions, and  in  which  his  future  happiness  inevitably  rests  upon 
their  labors. 

It  is  the  reindeer  and  the  dog  that  make  the  polar  regions 
habitable.  It  was  the  ox  that  traveled  the  plains  and  developed 
the  Pacific  coast  in  the  days  of  '49.  The  last  of  the  buffalo  gave 
their  flesh  to  feed  the  workmen  that  laid  the  Union  Pacific  — 
that  first  mechanical  bond  between  the  East  and  the  West. 


THE  DEPENDENCE  OF  MAN  7 

It  is  the  horse  that  has  fought  the  wars  of  the  world  and  won 
out  human  Hberty.  Besides  this,  he  has  broken  our  prairies, 
sown  and  harvested  our  grain,  and  delivered  it  to  the  markets  of 
the  world.  He  has  carried  messages  of  victory  and  of  sorrow,  and 
down  to  the  time  of  Washington  he  constituted  the  fastest  mode 
of  communication  known,  if  we  except  only  the  carrier  pigeon. 

If  all  the  animals  of  the  world  should  die  in  a  single  day,  the 
disaster  in  respect  to  labor  would  hardly  be  second  to  that  in 


Fig.  2.  "  I  helped  to  build  the  Pikes  Peak  Railroad."   The  burro  and 

the  pack  mule  afford  the  best  means  of  transportation  over  difficult 

mountain  trails 

respect  to  food.  We  might  perhaps  turn  vegetarian,  but  if  man 
should  lose  his  animal  servants,  then  he  himself  would  at  once 
be  reduced  to  a  beast  of  burden  in  a  thousand  ways  not  com- 
monly appreciated  or  even  understood. 

The  camel  and  the  pack  mule  carry  civilization  into  regions 
which  would  otherwise  remain  wilderness,  and  just  as  the  burro 
may  be  said  to  have  built  the  Pikes  Peak  Railroad,  so  the 
elephant  and  the  water  buffalo  each  has  done  and  is  doing  its 


8  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

distinctive  work,  without  which  man  would  have  failed  to  develop 
his  civilization  at  certain  significant  points. 

Animals  a  means  of  recreation.  Wholly  aside  from  the  sport 
of  hunting,  our  animal  population  contributes  not  a  little  to  the 
diversion  and  the  recreation  of  man.  The  old-time  tournament  ^ 
and  the  later  fox  chase  ministered  to  the  pleasure  sense  of  man, 
as  does  the  modern  horse  race.  There  is  no  enjoyment  more 
exhilarating  than  driving  behind  a  spirited  horse,  unless  it  be 
that  primitive  pleasure  of  riding ;  and  the  training  of  intelligent 
horses  to  the  higher  class  of  service  is  a  business  that  rises 
to  the  rank  of  a  fine  art. 

Thousands  of  ponies  contribute  not  only  to  the  health  of 
children  but  also  to  their  pleasure  and  development,  both  physi- 
cal and  mental,  for  no  experience  is  better  suited  to  stimulate 
resourcefulness  in  the  child  than  is  the  everyday  management 
of  an  animal  of  the  horse  kind. 

The  business  of  fancy  breeding  is  a  refining  kind  of  enjoy- 
ment that  for  sheer  fascination  has  no  superior.  As  the 
clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter,  so  is  a  flexible  species  in  the 
hand  of  the  breeder,  as  is  evidenced  by  a  glance  at  what 
has  been  done  in  the  breeding  of  pigeons  and  of  dogs  (see 
PP-  93-95)»  and  as  will  become  evident  as  we  proceed  with  the 
study  now  in  hand. 

Animals  and  plants  as  sources  of  raw  material  for  manufac- 
turing purposes.  Animals  may  be  thought  to  afford  but  little 
raw  material  for  the  manufacturer,  but  the  wool  and  the  skins, 
the  bones  and  the  slaughterhouse  refuse,  all  work  up  into 
valuable  material  for  factory  consumption,  providing  endless 
necessities  and  even  luxuries,  from  the  covering  of  our  hands 
and  feet  to  brushes  and  combs,  buttons  and  knife  handles, 
gelatin  and  glue. 

Plants  and  plant  products  are  nearly  all  submitted  to  some 
process  of  manufacture  before  assuming  forms  suitable  for  the 
uses  of  man,  and  this  affords  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of 

1  See  the  story  of  "  Ivanhoe." 


THE  DEPENDENCE  OF  MAN  9 

unlimited  employment  and  skill,  not  only  in  design  but  in 
execution  as  well. 

When  we  regard  facts  such  as  these  and  consider  the  mul- 
titude of  purposes  to  which  wood  is  put,  the  use  of  pulp  for 
paper,  the  flouring  of  grains,  the  carding  and  spinning  of  vege- 
table and  animal  fibers,  then  it  is  that  we  begin  to  realize  how 
generally  and  how  fully  our  domesticated  animals  and  plants 
afford  what  might  be  called  the  raw  materials  of  civilization. 

Medicinal  properties  of  animals  and  plants.  It  is  not  only  in 
health  but  also  in  disease  that  animals  and  plants  serve  our 
needs.  Nearly  all  medicinal  preparations  are  from  some  species 
of  plant,  and  each  has  its  characteristic  action  on  some  portion 
or  portions  of  the  body  or  its  functions. 

Certain  glands  of  animals,  too,  are  coming  to  be  much  used 
in  the  preparation  of  medicines.  If  the  thyroid  gland  of  the 
child,  for  example,  fails  to  develop,  the  mental  faculties  v/ill  be 
impaired;  but  the  calamity  can  be  averted  by  feeding  the  subject 
with  the  thyroid  substance  of  the  sheep. 

And  so  in  countless  ways  our  lives  have  come  to  be  bound 
up  with  those  of  the  animals  and  plants  that  we  cultivate,  and 
our  ability  to  maintain  our  civilization  and  insure  our  continued 
happiness  will  depend  very  largely  upon  the  success  with  which 
we  can  maintain  these  animal  and  plant  assistants  and  cause 
them  to  minister  to  our  good. 

The  business  of  farming.  The  systematic  and  continued  pro- 
duction of  domesticated  animals  and  plants,  insuring  a  perpetual 
supply  of  their  products,  is  the  business  of  farming.  Considered 
from  the  individual  standpoint,  we  may  like  it  or  not  according 
to  our  natural  bent  and  our  like  or  dislike  of  animals  and  the 
handling  of  crops,  but  looked  at  from  the  racial  and  economic 
standpoint,  there  is  no  more  important  work  for  the  continued 
welfare  of  man  than  that  of  maintaining  a  continuous  supply  of 
plant  and  animal  products. 

Nor  is  this  task  a  simple  one.  The  supply  must  be  ample 
for  an  increasing  population  with  increasing  needs,  although 


lO  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

plant  production  tends  strongly  to  the  deterioration  of  the  soil. 
Besides  this,  both  animals  and  plants  must  be  brought  and  kept 
up  to  the  highest  standard  of  efficiency,  and  it  is  the  purpose 
of  this  book  to  discuss  some  of  the  principles  involved  in  secur- 
ing and  maintaining  the  highest  attainable  service  on  the  part 
of  both  animals  and  plants ;  in  other  words,  their  systematic 
improvement  from  the  standpoint  of  usefulness  to  man. 

This  being  true,  we  cannot  know  too  much  about  them,  — 
their  nature,  their  history,  and  the  significant  details  of  their  re- 
production and  development.  Accordingly,  first  of  all,  attention 
is  invited  to  the  source  from  which  they  have  come  down  to  us. 

Summary.  We  are  absolutely  dependent  upon  plant  and  animal  life  for 
food,  clothing,  and  heat,  and  very  largely  so  for  light,  shelter,  labor,  recrea- 
tion, medicinal  compounds,  and  the  raw  material  for  manufacture.  In  a  very 
large  sense  man  has  drafted  into  his  service  all  other  living  things  which 
seem  capable  of  ministering  to  his  prosperity ;  thus,  if  in  no  other  way, 
proving  his  superiority  over  all  other  created  beings. 

Exercisels.  1.  Write  essays  showing  what  the  horse  has  done  and  is 
doing  for  man. 

2.  Write  essays  showing  how  we  would  be  affected,  and  how  we  would 
get  on  if  we  should  suddenly  be  deprived  of  the  cow. 

3.  What  is  the  most  useful  domestic  animal  in  your  neighborhood, 
and  why? 

4.  What  is  the  most  important  crop  of  the  locality,  and  why  ? 

5.  Calculate  the  value  of  all  the  animals  of  the  United  States  and  of  your 
own  state,  and  express  it  not  only  in  totals  but  on  the  per  capita  basis. 

6.  In  the  same  way  estimate  the  annual  output  of  crops,  and  compare 
with  this  the  value  of  our  exports. 

7.  Do  the  same  for  the  animal  products,  meat,  milk,  and  wool. 

8 .  Calculate  the  amount  and  value  of  the  grain  and  hay  consumed 
annually  by  our  domestic  animals,  and  compare  it  to  the  cost  of  feeding  our 
human  population. 

Reference.    Year-Book,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 


CHAPTER  II 
DOMESTICATED  RACES  ORIGINATED  IN  THE  WILD 

Domesticated  races  vary  •  Creation  not  yet  finished  •  Most  domesticated  races 
have  close  relatives  in  the  wild  •  Domesticated  species  existed  first  in  the 
wild  •  Species  change  in  domestication  •  Improvement  sometimes  slight- 
Domestication  a  gradual  process  •  How  the  history  of  domestication  is 
known  •  Not  always  able  to   identify  the   original  •  Distinction   between 

feral  and  wild 

Whence .  came  our  domesticated  animals  and  our  cultivated 
plants  ?  Were  our  horses,  our  cattle,  our  sheep,  and  our  swine 
created  in  the  beginning  as  they  are  to-day,  or  have  they  de- 
scended from  other,  older,  and  somewhat  different  races  ? 
Were  they  made  especially  for  our  benefit,  or  have  we  drafted 
them  into  our  service  ? 

Were  our  wheat,  our  corn,  our  clover  and  alfalfa,  our  apples 
and  vegetables,  created  for  the  particular  delectation  of  man, 
or  have  they  been  discovered  and  appropriated  by  him  to  meet 
his  special  needs  ? 

Were  they  always  as  they  are  now  in  form  and  color  and 
quality,  or  have  they  been  developed  from  preexisting  species 
and  somewhat  changed  in  the  process  ? 

Domesticated  races  vary.  The  last  question  is  easiest  an- 
swered. The  domesticated  races  were  not  always  what  they 
are  to-day,  for  many  have  arisen  within  recent  times  and  some 
within  the  recollection  of  men  yet  living.  For  example,  the 
Shorthorn  cattle  were  developed  in  England  within  the  last 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  the  trotting  horse  is  an  American 
product  developed  since  the  Civil  War. 

The  most  common  pig  of  the  Mississippi  valley  is  the  Poland 
China,  which  developed  in  the  Miami  valley  as  the  Chester 
White  developed  in  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania. 


12  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Wheat  is  very  old,  but  corn  is  relatively  new,  and  the  variety 
known  as  Riley's  Favorite  was  produced  by  James  Riley,  still 
living  at  Thornton,  Indiana. 

Grapes  have  been  known  since  the  earliest  ages,  but  all  the 
varieties  growing  east  of  the  Rockies  have  been  developed 
since  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrim  P'athers,  and  the  most  popu- 
lar of  all  grapes  —  the  Concord  —  originated  within  half  a  mile 
of  the  old  homes  of  Emerson  and  of  Hawthorne,  and  close  by 
the  litde  brown  house  where  Miss  Alcott  lived  and  wrote 
''Little  Women."  Moreover,  the  writer  has  seen  the  original 
vine  still  growing  by  the  old  home  of  its  originator,  Ephraim 
Bell,  as  he  has  also  seen  the  original  stock  from  which  all  our 
navel  oranges  have  sprung.^ 

Creation  not  yet  finished.  Just  as  every  torrential  storm 
brings  down  tons  of  rock  and  soil,  changing  permanently  the 
face  of  nature ;  just  as  the  rivers  carry  this  ''  drift "  from  the 
uplands,  extending  the  lowlands  farther  and  farther  into  the  sea  ; 
just  as  frost  and  flood  combine  to  tear  down  the  mountains  and 
wear  away  the  hills,  so  are  influences  at  work  everywhere  to 
alter  more  or  less  permanently  the  character  of  the  countless 
species  of  plants  and  animals  that  inhabit  the  earth. 

So  the  Creator  is  still  at  work,  and  not  only  the  forces  of 
nature  but  man  himself  works  with  God  in  still  further  improv- 
ing the  earth  and  the  living  beings  it  everywhere  supports.  It 
is  well,  then,  that  man  shall  learn  all  he  can  as  to  how  to  oper- 
ate to  the  best  advantage  in  discharging  his  part  of  the  labor 
of  creation. 

Most  domesticated  races  have  close  relatives  in  the  wild. 
The  most  casual  observer  recognizes  the  wolf  as  a  kind  of  first 
cousin  to  the  dog,  and  the  jackal  as  a  poor  relation.  Domestic 
cattle  belong  certainly  to  the  same  general  class  of  animals  as 
the  bison  and  the  water  buffalo. 

1  It  should  be  understood  that  the  peculiar  kind  of  orange  called  the  navel 
has  arisen  at  many  different  times  and  places  in  the  world.  Ours  originated  in 
southern  California. 


DOMESTICATED  RACES 


13 


Any  zoological  garden  or  traveling  menagerie  will  show  a 
great  variety  of  animals  clearly  catlike,  and  almost  every  moun- 
tainous country  has  its  native  sheep  of  some  kind. 

The  zebra  and  the  quagga  of  the  circus  suggest  the  horse,  and 
the  turkey  of  the  New  England  forests  not  only  resembles  our 
great  Thanksgiving  bird,  but  is  known  to  be  its  direct  progenitor.^ 


Fig.  3.    The  timber  wolf  a  wild  relative  of  the  domestic  dog.    Specimens  at 
the  National  Park,  Washington,  D.C,    Courtesy  of  the  Superintendent 

Among  plants  we  have  wild  oats,  timothy,  and  many  kinds 
of  clover ;  indeed,  most  of  our  pasture  grasses  are  truly  wild. 
We  have  also  wild  strawberries,  blackberries,  and  raspberries, 
wild  onions,  parsnips,  and  carrots,  and  whichever  way  we  turn 
the  domesticated  animal  and  plant  is  found  to  have  a  gypsy 
relative  in  the  wild. 

1  For  further  data  on  the  turkey,  see  Part  II,  Chapter  XVII. 


14  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Domesticated  species  existed  first  in  the  wild.  The  plain 
inference  from  all  this  is  that  domesticated  races  originated  in 
the  wild.  This  conclusion  is  abundantly  supported  by  a  mass  of 
incontrovertible  evidence  too  voluminous  for  full  presentation 
here,  showing  also  that  man  has  appropriated  these  wild  species 
and  put  them  to  his  service  from  time  to  time  as  he  has  felt 
the  need.  Some  of  this  was  done  so  long  ago  that  the  manner 
of  the  domestication  is  lost  in  the  dim  and  ancient  past,  and  the 
history  of  it  must  be  read  backwards  if  it  is  read  at  all ;  but 
some  of  it  is  so  recent  that  the  exact  record  exists  both  in 
printed  literature  and  in  the  recollection  of  men  that  still  walk 
and  talk  among  us. 

The  more  ancient  races  such  as  the  dog  and  the  horse,  like 
wheat  and  barley,  date  from  a  period  long  before  recorded  his- 
tory, and  more  than  likely  before  the  invention  of  the  art  of 
writing ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  the  American  wild  grape  that 
clambers  over  the  trees  and  shrubs  of  the  eastern  United  States 
is  known  to  be  the  parent  of  all  the  cultivated  varieties  grown 
east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  In  the  same  way  most  varieties 
of  plums  trace  straight  to  the  thickets  of  eastern  American 
rivers.  So  again,  the  gooseberry  and  the  currant,  the  blackberry 
and  the  raspberry,  in  all  their  varieties  have  been  developed 
from  wild  races,  and  mostly  within  the  last  half  century,  just 
as  all  the  varieties  of  the  rose  have  arisen  from  the  common 
wildling  of  the  hedges  and  the  hills.  How  this  has  been  done 
and  the  story  of  it  will  develop  in  the  student's  mind  as  we 
come  to  inquire  more  specifically  into  the  life  history  of  the 
separate  domesticated  species. 

Species  change  in  domestication.  It  is  not  to  be  assumed 
that  domesticated  races  are  identical  with  their  wild  antece- 
dents. On  the  contrary,  in  most  cases,  substantial  improvement 
has  taken  place  in  domestication,  as  will  be  seen  whenever  a 
domesticated  race  is  compared  with  its  nearest  wild  relative. 

There  are  many  wild  apples,  but  none  so  rich  or  so  large 
as  the  best  products  of  our  orchards.    Most  wild  oranges  are 


DOMESTICATED  RACES  1 5 

insipid  or  bitter.  One  would  have  to  look  a  long  time  to  find 
wild  grapes  equal  to  the  cultivated  sorts.  No  wild  potato  has 
ever  been  found  equal  to  the  cultivated  either  in  size  or  quality. 


Fig.  4.    American  wild  grape,  parent  of  all  cultivated  varieties  growing 
east  of  the  Rocky  mountains 

No  wild  sheep  equals  the  Merino  in  fineness  of  fleece  or  the 
Shropshire  in  quality  of  meat,  and  no  wild  animal  of  the  cattle 
kind  was  ever  known  to  give  as  much  milk  as  the  domesti- 
cated cow. 


1 6  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Improvement  sometimes  slight.  In  a  few  cases  this  improve- 
ment is  far  less  pronounced  than  in  others.  For  example,  the 
best  wild  strawberries  and  blackberries  are  undoubtedly  equal  in 
flavor  to  the  cultivated,  though  far  inferior  in  productiveness 
and  in  size.  The  Catawba  grape  was  found  wild  in  North  Caro- 
lina, practically  identical  with  its  present  form,  but  it  was  the 
only  vine  of  its  kind. 

The  fur-bearing  animals,  like  most  kinds  of  fish,  have  never 
been  domesticated  ;  indeed,  it  is  an  open  question  if  man  could 
maintain  artificial  conditions  that  would  preserve  in  captivity  the 
same  quality  of  fur  attained  in  the  wild  state. 

Domestication  a  gradual  process.  Civilization  has  developed 
not  from  one  but  from  many  centers,  and  many  animals  and 
plants  have  been  domesticated,  not  once,  but  many  times. 
Every  ''  woods  boy "  has  had  his  pet  "  coon  "  or  crow,  and 
every  savage  tribe  it^  horde  of  dogs,  each  going  to  the  wild 
for  what  it  wanted. 

Some  parts  of  the  world  were  ahead  of  others  in  the  process 
of  civilization  and  also  in  the  business  of  domestication.  While 
our  own  ancestors  were  chasing  the  Auroch  ^  in  the  wilds  of 
central  Europe  in  Caesar's  time  or  hunting  the  wild  boar^  in 
the  jungles  of  Germany,  Asia  had  developed  races  and  civiliza- 
tions that  had  risen,  run  their  courses,  disappeared,  and  been 
forgotten,  giving  place  to  others.  There,  then,  was  probably  the 
earliest  domestication.  Asia  is  our  largest  continental  area,  with 
the  greatest  diversity  in  soil,  climate,  and  exposure.  It  is  there- 
fore richest  in  both  animal  and  plant  varieties,  as  it  is  oldest  in 
civilization  ;  and  we  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  many  of  our 
most  useful  species  were  here  domesticated  so  long  ago  that  it  is 
impossible  to  say  when,  how,  or  by  whom  it  was  accomplished. 

Later  than  all  this,  however,  and  contemporaneous  with  the 
culture  that  belonged  to  Greece  and  the  glory  that  was  Rome's, 
the  Indian  of  our  own  country  was  as  wild  as  the  buffalo  and 

1  The  probable  progenitor  of  most  European  breeds  of  cattle. 

2  The  wild  parent  of  certain  European  breeds  of  pig. 


DOMESTICATED  RACES 


17 


the  bear  that  he  hunted  or  the  turkey  that  our  Puritan  fore- 
father tamed.  When  Demosthenes  was  developing  his  oratory, 
and  Alexander  and  Caesar  were  extending  their  dominions,  the 
Six  Nations  had  probably  not  yet  made  the  beginning  of  what 
in  time  would  undoubtedly  have  developed  into  an  Indian  civ- 
ilization, had  it  not  been  interrupted  and  finally  destroyed  by 
European  discovery  and  invasion. 

Within  the  recollection  of  men  now  living  the  Sandwich 
Islanders  were  savages.  Head-hunters  and  cannibals  are  not 
quite  extinct  in  the  Pacific  Islands,  while  in  Africa  men  are 
yet  hunted  like  wild  animals  by  their  savage  neighbors.  Thus 
savagery  lingered  even  until  our  own  time. 

So  it  is  that  civilization  is  constantly  springing  up  from  new 
centers,  giving  us  the  opportunity  of  studying  the  methods  of 
its  beginning ;  and  so  it  is  that  the  ways  of  primitive  man  are 
well  known  and  are  made  a  part,  not  of  our  imagination,  but  of 
authentic  history.  So  it  is  that  we  arrive  at  conclusions  not  only 
by  inference  and  through  relics  of  ancient  peoples,  but  by  actual 
observation  of  what  men  do  in  the  primitive  state,  —  of  the  real 
behavior  of  many  and  widely  separated  races  that  have  for  one 
reason  or  another  been  belated  in  their  start  towards  civilization. 
In  this  way  we  are  able  to  study  the  methods  of  domestication 
at  first-hand. 

How  the  history  of  domestication  is  known.  In  the  case  of 
all  these  peoples,  however  savage,  some  start  has  been  made 
toward  domesticating  at  least  a  few  wild  animals,  and  it  is  by 
putting  together  fragments  such  as  these  and  adding  the  facts 
of  recorded  history  that  the  story  of  domestication  may  be 
written  almost  if  not  quite  from  the  beginning. 

Even  little  matters  throw  great  light  upon  such  a  history. 
For  example,  the  bones  of  animals  that  were  hunted  for  food 
during  the  stone  age  are  left  behind  in  great  heaps,  called 
"  kitchen  middens,"  ^  while  the  bones  of  domesticated  animals 

1  Especially  numerous  in  western  Europe.  Most  of  these  long  bones  have 
been  split  to  get  at  the  marrow. 


1 8  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

are  often  found  buried  with  human  remains,  as  would  be  likely 
with  special  favorites.  In  those  days,  of  course,  animals  were 
not  yet  domesticated  for  food,  but  only  to  assist  in  the  hunt,  an 
inference  perfectly  safe  from  the  fact  that  most  of  the  remains 
in  the  middens  are  of  deer  and  reindeer,  even  yet  not  domesti- 
cated.i  In  all  these  various  ways  the  history  of  domestication  of 
many  if  not  most  of  our  animals  is  well  known,  if  not  in  detail, 
at  least  in  a  general  way. 

Not  always  able  to  identify  the  original.  However  this  may 
be,  and  however  confident  we  may  feel  as  to  the  processes  of 
domestication,  we  often  cannot  speak  with  assurance  of  the 
exact  wild  species  from  which  each  particular  domestic  animal 
has  been  developed.  We  know  that  the  ancestor  was  a  wild 
animal,  but  which  one  or  ones  of  the  many  similar  races  that 
must  have  existed  in  those  remote  times  we  have  but  scanty 
means  of  knowing. 

This  is  partly  because,  through  breeding  and  care,  all  domes- 
ticated races  have  been  gready  changed  from  their  appearance 
in  the  wild  state,  and  partly  because  in  very  many  cases  the  wild 
original  may  itself  have  changed,  or  even,  perhaps,  long  ceased 
to  exist  anywhere  on  earth  ;  indeed,  it  looks  sometimes  as  if  j 
domestication  had  been  the  principal  if  not  the  only  means  of| 
saving  some  of  our  most  valuable  species  from  utter  extinction 
long  ago. 

Distinction  between  feral  and  wild.  Until  recent  years  im- 
mense numbers  of  so-called  wild  cattle,  and  of  wild  horses  as 
well,  roamed  over  our  own  western  plains  and  over  the  pampas 
of  South  America.  Such  animals  are  not  truly  wild,  because 
they  do  not  represent  an  original  stock,  being  merely  the  de- 
scendants of  the  cattle  and  horses  brought  over  by  the  Spanish 
invaders,  some  of  which  escaped  and  ''  ran  wild."  Finding 
conditions  favorable,  such  escaped  specimens  throve  and  freely 
multiplied,  ultimately  stocking  the  plains  with  roving  bands  of 

1  This  statement  may  be  questionable  as  to  the  reindeer,  which  is  now 
semidomesticated. 


DOMESTICATED  RACES  1 9 

both  cattle  and  horses,  as  truly  wild  in  temperament  as  any 
species  that  ever  ranged  the  natural  pastures. 

Such  descendants  of  escaped  domesticated  races,  however, 
are  called  "feral,"  to  distinguish  them  from  a  truly  aboriginal 
stock,  like  the  buffalo,  that  ranged  our  plains  with  our  feral 
horses.  Many  cultivated  plants  also  freely  revert  to  the  wild  in 
unoccupied  lands,  but  they  are  spoken  of  as  having  ''  escaped  " 
from  cultivation,  so  that  the  term  "feral  "  is  limited  to  animals. 

Feral  animals  have  most  of  the  characters  and  appearance  of 
the  domestic  forms  from  which  they  spring,  except  in  respect  to 
temperament,  which  is  that  of  the  truly  wild,  all  of  which  consti- 
tutes an  additional  argument  for  their  origin  in  the  wild.^ 

The  next  step  is  to  see  how  it  was  that  animals  and  plants 
came  to  be  domesticated  and  taken  out  of  the  wild  for  the 
benefit  of  man. 

Summary.  Domesticated  animals  and  cultivated  plants  originated  and 
existed  for  indefinite  generations  as  wild,  from  which  state  they  have  been 
taken  by  man  to  meet  his  needs,  and  cultivated  in  order  to  insure  a  suf- 
ficient and  unfailing  supply.  Some  of  these  races  were  domesticated  ages 
ago,  some  within  the  lifetime  of  men  yet  living,  and  all  have  been  more  or 
less  modified  from  what  they  were  in  the  wild  state. 

Exercises.  1.  What  wild  animals  or  plants  in  your  vicinity  are,  in  your 
opinion,  related  to  domesticated  or  cultivated  forms  ? 

2.  What  animals  or  plants  that  have  never  been  domesticated  would,  in 
your  opinion,  prove  valuable  to  man  ? 

3.  Make  a  list  of  the  wild  fruits  and  nuts  native  to  your  vicinity. 

4.  Make  an  exhaustive  list  of  the  cat  tribe  of  wild  animals,  with  notes 
on  the  character  and  habitat  of  each. 

5.  Make  the  same  sort  of  study  of  the  dog  tribe,  including  wolves,  foxes, 
and  jackals. 

References.    1.  "  Wild  White  Catde  of  Great  Britain."    Storer. 

2.  The  zoology  and  the  botany  in  use  in  the  local  school.    • 

3.  Any  good  cyclopedia,  or,  better,  a  special  treatise  such  as  Lydekker's 
Library  of  Natural  History  (6  vols.) 

1  In  this  connection  read  Jack  London's  "  Call  of  the  Wild,"  one  of  the 
strongest  pictures  of  this  reversion  that  has  ever  been  drawn,  and  an  excellent 
dog  story  withal. 


CHAPTER  III 

HOW  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS  CAME  TO  BE  DOMESTICATED 

Domestication  the  result  of  necessity  •  Need  for  help  in  the  hunt  •  Need  for 
additional  food  •  Need  for  clothing  and  shelter  •  Need  for  labor  •  Domesti- 
cation the  first  step  in  civilization  •  The  civilizing  effect  of  slavery  •  What 
animals  have  done  for  us  •  Unused  materials  •  Lost  possibilities  •  Domestica- 
tion a  gradual  process  •  Species  that  were  domesticated 

Domestication  the  result  of  necessity.  Domestication  both  of 
animals  and  plants  came  naturally  out  of  the  needs  of  primitive 
man.  If  he  could  have  maintained  himself  successfully  on  the 
spontaneous  products  of  nature,  he  would  never  have  undertaken 
the  trouble  of  domesticating  the  wild  animals  and  plants  about 
him,  and  of  assuming  the  labor  and  responsibility  of  their  main- 
tenance and  care. 

It  early  became,  however,  a  matter  of  necessity.  Primitive 
man,  like  the  animals  about  him,  lived  under  hard  conditions. 
The  '"  law  of  the  wild  "  ^  was  the  law  everywhere.  Everything 
subsisted  by  virtue  of  its  strength,  its  endurance,  or  its  wits,  and 
man,  like  his  animal  neighbors,  spent  most  of  his  time  in  get- 
ting something  to  eat  and  in  avoiding  being  eaten  himself.  As 
compared  with  the  other  animals,  —  for  primitive  man  is  little 
else  than  an  animal, — our  barbarian  ancestors  found  themselves 
at  no  little  disadvantage,  purely  on  physical  grounds.  They 
were  not  as  strong  as  many  of  the  animals  and  were  no  match 
for  them  in  fair  battle.  They  were  not  as  fleet  of  foot  as  most 
of  the  game  they  hunted.  They  could  not  trail  by  scent  like 
the  wolf,  and  if  the  hunter  by  sheer  endurance  stalked  his  game 
and  walked  it  to  death,^  he  was  far  from  camp  or  cave  where  his 

1  See  Chapter  V. 

2  Man  is  probably  the  best  walker  among  the  animals  and  can  easily  outwalk 
even  the  horse  in  an  endurance  test. 


t  DOMESTICATION  OF  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS  2 1 
ttle  ones  were,  and  most  of  the  carcass  was  worthless  when  at 
last  he  had  obtained  it. 

Primitive  man  was  not  long  in  discovering  that  his  chief  ad- 
vantage lay  in  his  wits.  He  was  the  only  animal  that  knew 
enough  to  pick  up  a  club  and  use  it  as  a  weapon,  either  of 
offense  or  defense.  He  was  the  only  one  that  could  manage 
fire.i  He  was  the  only  one  that  could  hurl  a  stone  or  make  a 
machine  to  send  a  projectile  of  any  sort.^ 

By  aid  of  various  devices,  such  as  weapons  and  traps,  the 
savage  continued  to  subsist  by  his  wits,  and  he  was  hard  on  the 
species  he  hunted.  As  a  consequence  game  not  only  grew  more 
scarce  but  it  gradually  learned  the  methods  of  this  dangerous 
enemy,  who  struck  where  he  was  not,  and  became  exceedingly 
wary,  till  scarcity  and  starvation  were  inevitable,  calling  for  a 
fresh  draft  upon  the  wits. 

Need  for  help  in  the  hunt.  The  hunting  habits  of  the  wolf 
must  have  early  attracted  the  attention  of  our  barbarian  ances- 
tors. His  ability  to  trail  by  the  scent  and  his  habit  of  hunting 
in  packs,  as  well  as  his  fieetness  and  his  relentless  endurance, 
could  not  have  failed  to  impress  themselves  upon  hungry  hunters 
in  very  early  times,  and  to  possess  a  pack  of  such  helpers  must 
have  been  a  primitive  ambition. 

P'ortunately  the  nature  of  the  wolf  is  such  that  he  is  easily 
tamed  if  taken  young,  and  he  succeeds  well  in  captivity.  His 
intelligence  is  of  an  order  that  responds  to  that  of  man  in  his 
hunting  temper,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  wherever  primitive 

1  Monkeys  and  baboons  will  warm  themselves  by  a  fire,  but  do  not  know 
enough  to  replenish  it.  Fire  was  almost  certainly  at  first  obtained  from  volca- 
noes. Its  production  by  friction  and  by  flint  and  steel  must  have  been  much 
later  achievements. 

2  The  ingenuity  of  primitive  man  in  making  projectiles  is  truly  remarkable. 
Bows  and  arrows,  blowguns,  and  afterwards  firearms,  are  progressive  tributes 
to  increasing  intelligence ;  but  of  all  projectiles,  the  boomerang  is  the  most 
wonderful,  considering  the  grade  of  savage  that  produced  it.  The  writer  has 
been  told  by  travelers  who  have  seen  it  done,  that  a  skillful  thrower  could 
strike  a  mark  with  the  boomerang,  which  would  then  return  and  fall  near  the 
thrower's  foot. 


22 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


man  has  been  discovered  he  has  had  extensive  packs  of  dogs, 
certainly  if  wolves  of  any  kind  were  found  in  that  part  of 
the  world.  1 

The  dog  was  easily  tamed,  but  he  was  fleeter  of  foot  than 
man,  his  master,  and  both  game  and  dogs  were  almost  certain 
to  be  soon  lost  in  the  distance,  leaving  the  master  to  come  be- 
hind and  take  what  was  left  after  the  death.  Accordingly  the 
horse  must  have  early  appealed  to  the  primitive  hunter  on 
account  of  his  fleetness.^    With  his  horse  and  his  dog  and  his 


Fig.  5.    Head  of  the  collie  and  of  the  coyote.    Note  similarity  in  outline  and 

general  effect 

weapons,  however,  the  man  was  match  for  anything  that  roamed 
the  forest  or  the  plain,  and  with  them  he  has  established  and 
made  good  his  claim  as  lord  of  all  creation. 

Need  for  additional  food.  But  all  this  was  still  harder  upon 
the  hunted,  and  game  was  rapidly  killed  off  or  driven  away,  till 
many  a  time  the  hunter  returned  empty-handed.  Then  it  was 
that  a  few  nuts  or  seeds  gathered  by  the  women  brought  grate- 
ful relief  from  what  would  otherwise  have  been  distressing  fast. 


1  Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  fact  that  our  American  Indians 
had  made  dogs  out  of  the  coyote  or  wild  wolf  of  the  prairie. 

2  As  late  as  the  times  of  the  Old  Testament,  even  the  wild  ass  is  frequently 
alluded  to  as  a  symbol  of  swiftness.  This  is  especially  true  in  Job  and  the 
prophets,  having  reference,  probably,  to  the  Syrian  wild  ass  figured  in  the 
Ninevite  sculptures. 


DOMESTICATION  OF  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS      23 

and  thus  it  was  that  agriculture  had  its  beginnings  in  the  fre- 
quent failure  of  the  hunt. 

As  game  grew  more  and  more  scarce  the  favorite  fruits  were 
held  in  higher  esteem,  the  places  where  the  large-seeded  grasses 
grew  were  carefully  protected,  the  other  vegetation  was  cleared 
away,  and  the  beginnings  of  cultivation  were  made.  The  next 
step  was  to  gather  stores  of  fruits,  nuts,  and  seeds  for  the 
winter,  and,  last  of  all,  to  plant  and  care  for  the  very  best  in 
some  open  space  or  bend  of  the  river  where  fresh  new  soil 
awaited  occupation.  Thus  did  cultivation  begin,  and  thus  were 
women  the  first  farmers. 

Nothing  was  more  natural  than  that  the  best  should  be 
gathered  for  eating,  and  the  very  choicest  only  reserved  for 
planting.  In  this  way  the  first  steps  in  plant  improvement  were 
introduced  at  the  very  beginning  of  cultivation,  and  thus  did 
our  ancestors  early  learn  the  fundamental  lesson  of  all  breeding, 
namely,  the  better  the  parentage  the  better  the  offspring. 

This  utilization  of  plants  as  well  as  animals  added  vastly  to 
the  food  supply  and  greatly  insured  its  constancy  and  regularity. 
Savages  who  followed  this  course  prospered  and  encroached 
upon  their  neighbors,  while  those  who  depended  solely  upon 
the  hunt  suffered  periodic  famine  and  faced,  in  the  end,  extinc- 
tion,^  for  in  a  state  of  nature  the  ''  law  of  the  wild  "  obtains 
among  men  as  well  as  among  the  animals. 

However,  man  was  unwilling  to  give  up  his  animal  food  with 
the  growing  scarcity  of  game.  He  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
slaughtering  the  best,^  without  regard  to  the  future, — an  utterly 
wasteful  proceeding,  for  in  this  way  the  hunt  was  not  only  fear- 
fully destructive  of  numbers  but  of  quality  as  well,  and  it  is  little 

1  Read  the  history  of  the  Iroquois,  or  Six  Nations,  who  raised  crops,  in  con- 
trast with  that  of  the  Canadian  Indians  who  subsisted  entirely  by  the  hunt  and 
were  often  forced  in  winter  to  eat  the  skins  and  even  the  bark  of  their  wigwams. 

2  It  is  always  the  largest  buck  that  is  singled  out  for  the  chase.  The  best  of 
everything  is  hunted,  just  as  the  woodsman,  cutting  a  tree,  even  for  exercise, 
chooses  always  the  straightest  and  best,  while  the  forester,  who  is  the  product 
of  civilization,  cuts  always  the  worst,  giving  the  best  a  still  better  chance. 


24  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

wonder  that  hunting  men  starved  periodically,  when  it  took,  as 
estimated,  forty  acres  of  good  hunting  ground  to  sustain  one 
individual. 

It  was  inevitable  that  the  time  should  come  when  man  must 
take  better  care  of  the  wild  animals  or  give  up  animal  food. 

The  first  step  was  to  hunt  and  destroy  the  wild  animals  that 
preyed  upon  those  that  were  of  value  to  man,^  and  the  next  was 
to  spare  the  finest  males  and  all  females  with  young.^  Thus 
were  the  first  steps  in  domestication  and  the  beginning  of  im- 
provement instituted  at  substantially  the  same  time. 

The  next  step  was  to  provide  food  for  this  increasing  stock  I 
of  valuable  semidomesticated  animals.  This  was  done  in  two 
ways.  The  easy  way  was  to  herd  and  drive  the  bunch  to  fresh 
pastures  where  there  was  good  water.  This  required  a  consider- 
able force  of  men  and  horses,  not  only  to  herd  the  animals  but 
to  protect  them  from  robbers,  because  these  herds  were  none  too 
plenty  and  the  feeding  lands  none  too  extensive.^ 

The  other  plan  of  providing  food  was  to  supply  it  directly 
from  cultivated  plants,  confining  the  animals  more  and  more  as 
natural  feeding  grounds  became  exhausted.  This  is  the  more 
laborious  of  the  two  methods,  but  it  is  the  one  followed  when 
natural  feeding  grounds  (plains)  are  not  extensive,  and  it  is  the 
one  necessarily  followed  wherever  lands  become  valuable.  Thus 
did  man  save  to  his  own  use  and  preserve  from  extinction  not 
only  the  dog  and  the  horse,  but  all  the  animals  good  for  food, 
and  thus,  in  a  measure,  has  he  become  their  servant  and  care- 
taker in  consideration  of  what  they  can  do  for  him. 

1  To  the  knowledge  of  the  writer  a  wolf  hunt  occurred  in  Illinois  as  late  as 
the  very  close  of  the  last  century,  —  I  am  quite  sure  in  1898. 

2  At  the  discovery  of  South  America  the  Peruvian  Indians,  or  Aztecs,  were 
found  to  have  already  instituted  an  annual  hunt  by  which  all  the  animals  of 
a  great  region  were  rounded  up  in  some  mountain  valley,  driven  to  close 
quarters,  the  worthless  and  dangerous  beasts  of  prey  systematically  killed,  and 
the  supply  of  meat  taken  not  from  the  best,  but  from  the  common  animals, 
being  careful  to  release  the  best  for  breeding  purposes  in  order  that  the  quality 
of  the  supply  should  not  deteriorate. 

8  Read  again  the  story  of  Abraham  and  Lot,  Genesis  xiii,  7-1 1. 


DOMESTICATION  OF  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS      25 

Need  for  clothing  and  shelter.  Food  was  not  the  only  need 
of  man  supplied  by  the  beast  and  bird  of  the  forest.  The  skins 
were  good  for  clothing  and  for  tents,  enabling  the  primitive 
hunter  to  leave  his  cave  and  other  natural  shelters,  and  erect 
his  home  wherever  inclination  or  necessity  dictated.  The  skins 
of  those  taken  for  food  were,  however,  not  enough  to  meet 
this  need,  and  the  world  over  animals  with  especially  fine  body 
covering  have  been  hunted  almost  to  the  point  of  extermina- 
tion for  their  fur,  originally  as  a  matter  of  necessity  but  in  these 
latter  days  as  a  matter  of  luxury  and  profit.^  So  relentless  has 
been  that  warfare,  and  so  systematically  has  it  been  conducted, 
that  our  valuable  fur-bearing  animals  are  nearly  exhausted  and 
we  ourselves  will  soon  face  the  same  issue  with  respect  to  these 
animals  that  our  barbarian  ancestors  faced  with  respect  to  food 
animals,  —  domesticate  or  go  without. 

Even  this  has  not  fully  met  our  need  for  the  products  of  the 
animal  body,  and  many  species  with  a  long  coat  have  from  time 
immemorial  been  shorn  of  their  fleece,  the  "wool "  to  be  woven 
into  cloth  and  the  animal  saved  to  grow  another  crop.  Thus  did 
the  scarcity  of  animals  add  one  more  step  in  our  march  of  civili- 
zation, and  add  the  loom  to  our  industries. 

Even  this  was  not  enough.  The  wool  of  sheep  and  the  hair 
of  goat  and  alpaca  alone  could  not  meet  our  new  demands  for 
fabric.  Then  came  the  resort  to  vegetable  fiber,  not  only  for 
clothing,  but  for  cordage  to  take  the  place  of  the  more  expen- 
sive, and  at  last  impossible,  dried  sinew  and  leather  lariat.^  Thus 


1  The  Hudson  Bay  Company  was  founded  in  1670,  and  chartered  by  the 
British  government  with  special  privileges  to  hunt  fur-bearing  animals  in  the 
Canadas,  especially  in  the  Hudson  Bay  territory.  These  hunters  and  trappers 
were  really  the  first  explorers,  for  they  not  only  subsidized  the  Indians  to  hunt 
and  trap,  but  themselves  penetrated  to  the  remotest  depths  of  forest  and  moun- 
tain in  search  of  the  precious  pelt.  The  quest  for  seal  was  no  less  ardent  upon 
the  water  than  was  that  for  otter,  mink,  and  beaver  on  the  land. 

2  In  certain  portions  of  the  tropics  a  tough  and  slender  vine  is  used  for 
binding  together  the  timbers  in  fence  and  building  construction.  The  cipo 
(pronounced  see-po)  is  a  vine  of  this  kind,  and  is  suggestively  called  the 
Brazilian  hail. 


26  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

a  new  list  of  plants  came  into  cultivation,  greatly  extending  our 
farming  operations,  —  all  in  order  to  meet  the  needs  of  an  ad- 
vancing civilization.  And  the  end  is  not  yet,  for  the  demand  is 
still  for  more  and  better  fabrics. 

Need  for  labor.  From  the  beginning  man  was  a  lazy  animal. 
Like  his  associates,  he  bestirred  himself  only  in  the  presence  of 
extreme  necessity.  He  acquired  the  horse  to  add  to  his  fleet- 
ness  of  limb,  and  thereby  learned  the  lesson  that  riding  is  not 
only  faster  but  easier  than  walking. 

Besides,  when  man  undertook  the  somewhat  wholesale  domes- 
tication of  animals  and  plants  he  assumed  an  immense  burden 
not  only  of  responsibility  but  of  labor.  If  now  he  was  to  under- 
take to  provide  the  horse's  food,  what  more  natural  than  that 
the  horse  should  pull  the  plow^  to  raise  his  own  provender.? 
Then,  too,  with  the  accumulated  property  to  be  carried  from 
place  to  place,  not  only  for  storage  but  for  trading  with  people 
who  desired  exchange,  still  new  uses  for  the  horse  were  found. 

In  this  and  other  ways  not  only  the  horse  was  put  to  work, 
but  other  animals  like  the  ox,  the  camel,  and  the  llama  were 
domesticated  chiefly  for  their  labor.  Thus  with  the  passing  of 
the  hunt  the  old  occupation  of  the  horse  is  gone,  but  he  has 
found  other  uses  which  are  no  less  valuable  in  our  eyes,  and  we 
cannot  foresee  the  time  when  the  so-called  "horseless  age"  will 
be  truly  ushered  in.^ 

Domestication  the  first  step  in  civilization.  Every  hungry 
man  is  a  savage,  whatever  his  stage  of  development,  and  no 
race  is  ready  to  lay  even  the  foundations  of  a  civilization  till  it 
has  provided  itself  with  an  ample  and  assured  food  supply.  As 
long  as  primitive  man  depended  solely  upon  the  hunt,  so  long 
did  he  alternate  between  fast  and  famine,  with  the  certainty  that 
in  the  end  the  famine  would  get  him. 

1  The  original  plow  was  not  the  traditional  forked  stick.  It  was  without 
doubt  simply  a  sharp  stick  drawn  by  a  cord  or  vine,  and  held  by  the  attendant 
in  a  slanting  direction. 

2  In  spite  of  all  the  talk  about  doing  away  with  horses,  their  numbers  and 
prices  are  steadily  increasing. 


DOMESTICATION  OF  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS      27 

But  with  animals  to  care  for  came  property  interests  to  de- 
fend, and  a  feeling  of  responsibility  developed  which  only  can 
stimulate  that  sober  activity  which  marks  civilization  as  distinct 
from  savagery. 

With  the  primitive  crops  land  came  to  have  a  value.  This, 
too,  had  to  be  defended,  for  savage  enemies  were  not  long  in 
learning  that  cultivated  fields  on  which  were  growing  the  next 
winter's  food  constituted  the  most  vulnerable  point  in  a  neigh- 
bor.i  Stores  of  grain  also  constituted  peculiar  temptations  and 
necessitated  walled  or  otherwise  defendable  cities. 

The  civilizing  effect  of  slavery.  There  is  a  chapter  of  this 
ancient  history  most  unpleasant  to  revive,  but  yet  upon  which 
we  ought  to  be  intelligent.  It  is  difficult  for  us  now  to  realize 
how  slavery  ever  did  any  good  in  the  world,  or  how  it  ever 
helped  along  towards  civilization,  yet  a  little  reflection  will  serve 
to  show  how  at  one  time  it  played  an  important  part. 

In  the  primitive  division  of  labor  it  was  natural  that  the  men 
should  be  the  hunters  while  the  women  stayed  behind  with  the 
children.  It  was  natural,  too,  that  upon  the  return  of  the  suc- 
cessful hunters,  tired  and  hungry,  their  duty  ended  when  the 
game  was  brought  home  and  laid  at  the  feet  of  the  women,  whose 
natural  duty  it  was  to  skin  the  animals  and  prepare  the  meal. 

Again,  nothing  was  more  natural  than  that  the  women  should, 
during  the  absence  of  the  hunters,  scour  the  neighboring  forests 
for  such  nuts  and  fruits  and  seeds  as  they  could  pick  up ;  for 
experience  taught  that  the  hunt  was  not  always  successful,  and 
that  a  dinner  of  herbs  was  better  than  none  at  all,  besides 
contributing  to  the  good  humor  of  the  men,  who,  in  savagery, 
did  not  hesitate  to  abuse  anybody  who  was  unable  to  success- 
fully resist. 

Taken  altogether,  the  lot  of  the  women  of  primitive  races 
is  a  hard  and  laborious  one,  with  plenty  of  abuse  thrown  in. 
Now  it  is  easy  to  see  how  scarcity  of  game,  restricted  hunting 
grounds,  cultivated  fields,  and  stores  of  food  lead  to  warfare.  But 

1  How  this  led  to  war  has  already  been  noted  in  connection  with  the  Iroquois. 


28  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

warfare  means  prisoners,  and  there  is  one  thing  more  satisfying 
to  a  savage  victor  than  to  kill  his  prisoner  and  use  his  skull  for 
a  drinking  bowl,  and  that  is  to  take  him  home  and  turn  him  over 
as  a  slave  to  his  savage  wife,  who  is  not  slow  to  make  him  per- 
form her  labor  and  to  vent  upon  him  the  abuse  she  has  so  often 
suffered  herself,  and  which  she  and  her  children  so  well  know 
how  to  bestow. 

Imagine  the  satisfaction  with  which  a  victorious  savage  would 
regard  the  chief  of  a  rival  tribe  whom  he  had  brought  as  a 
present  to  his  wife,  as  he  saw  him  day  after  day  doing  the 
work  of  women  !  Imagine,  too,  the  satisfaction  of  the  woman 
in  having  the  opportunity  to  belabor  a  man  and  perhaps  encour- 
age the  children  to  practice  cruelty  upon  him  whom  they  had 
once  learned  to  dread  as  a  great  warrior. 

It  is  a  hard  picture,  this  primitive  slavery,  but  it  is  only  under 
conditions  such  as  these  that  the  savage  man  and  the  barbarian 
woman  first  came  to  stand  on  terms  of  equality  ;  thus  it  is  that 
slavery  was  the  first  emancipation  of  woman,  and  it  is  this  in- 
stitution, bad  as  it  is,  that  first  made  leisure  possible  to  woman- 
kind, and  gave  her  honorable  standing  in  the  eyes  of  man. 
With  the  later  chapters  of  slavery  and  its  degradation  to  both 
races  we  are  more  familiar,  but  we  cannot  afford  to  forget,  in 
our  horror  of  this  now  extinct  institution,  the  great  service  it 
once  rendered  to  woman  when  the  world  was  young. 

What  animals  have  done  for  us.  The  want  of  space  does  not 
permit  the  expansion  of  this  thought,  but  it  is  one  to  which 
young  people  may  well  give  some  special  study,  for  animals  not 
only  give  their  bodies  and  body  products  to  be  consumed,  but 
they  toil  day  after  day  for  our  advantage. 

With  the  recent  mechanical  inventions,  the  business  of  carry- 
ing both  freight  and  men  has  been  largely  removed  from  our 
animals,  especially  in  our  most  highly  civilized  countries.  And 
yet  we  do  not  forget  the  pony  express  of  our  western  plains, 
nor  fail  to  remember  that  it  was  within  the  memory  of  men 
yet  living  that  the  patient  ox  toiled  day  after  day  to  drag  endless 


DOMESTICATION  OF  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS      29 

emigrant  trains  across  the  boundless  prairies,  through  the 
bottomless  "sloughs"  and  over  the  Great  Divide.  "Westward 
the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way  "  would  never  have  had  its 
full  meaning  for  us,  except  for  the  thousands  of  cattle  that 
dropped  by  the  wayside  and  left  their  bones  bleaching  on  the 
prairies  beside  those  of  the  buffalo  relative,  as  tribute  to  the 
march  of  civilization  westward.^ 

The  development  of  South  Africa  is  yet  almost  unwritten 
history .2  Here  no  animal  but  the  ox  can  endure  the  endless 
toil  of  the  treeless  plain,  and  he  has  been  the  constant  attendant 
of  the  Boer  from  the  Great  Trek  till  the  present,  as  he  is 
likely  to  be  for  a  considerable  time  to  come. 

y  Nothing  is  more  common  than  for  people  that  have  become 
prosperous  to  forget,  even  perhaps  to  despise,  the  very  means 
by  which  their  prosperity  came  about,  —  to  overlook  the  means 
in  the  enjoyment  of  results.  These  animals  literally  give  their 
lives  to  our  service,  with  no  returns  but  feed  and  care,  a  fact 
which  raises  the  question  of  our  natural  obligation  in  exacting 
this  service.  We  are  practicing  upon  them  the  "  law  of  the 
wild  "  even  yet.  Doubtless  the  end  justifies  the  means,  and 
without  a  doubt  it  is  right  to  use  our  animals  to  our  own  ad- 
vantage, but  every  law,  both  human  and  divine,  forbids  that 
we  abuse  them. 

"^  In  a  large  measure  life  in  any  form  is  a  sacred  thing.  A 
man's  horse  or  cow  belongs  to  him  only  in  the  restricted  sense 
that  he  is  entitled  to  the  service,  and  if  necessary  the  life,  only 
when  he  provides  generously  for  the  needs  of  the  animal  and 
surrounds  it  by  as  much  comfort  as  possible.  At  best  our  ani- 
mals are  bits  of  God's  creation  which  we  are  entitled  to  appro- 
priate and  use  only  under  terms  which  we  can  justify  before 
Him  who  is  the  judge  of  all. 

1  Even  the  first  material  for  the  Union  Pacific  was  hauled  by  oxen,  so  that 
the  ox  gave  his  labor  as  the  buffalo  gave  his  flesh,  and  both  gave  their  lives  to 
this  first  connection  between  the  East  and  the  West. 

2  See  James  Bryce's  "  Impressions  of  South  Africa,"  an  excellent  book 
dealing  with  primitive  conditions. 


30  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Unused  materials.  It  has  been  frequently  mentioned  that  the 
world  might  have  been  much  richer  in  domesticated  races  if  it 
had  seemed  worth  while,  or  if  we  had  really  set  about  it. 

The  bison,  whether  European  or  American,  would  have  made 
a  good  domestic  animal  of  the  cattle  kind.  The  quagga  could 
be  domesticated  if  we  needed  him.  The  bighorn  of  the  Rockies 
would  make  a  sheep,  and  the  peccary  or  the  wild  boar  would 
make  a  pig.  The  prairie  hen  would  make  a  better  fowl  than 
the  guinea  hen,  and  any  number  of  new  dogs  could  be  devel- 
oped from  the  foxes  and  the  wolves. 

The  wild  rice  of  our  northern  lakes  would  make  an  excel- 
lent grain  for  lowlands.  The  milkweed  may  have  possibilities 
as  a  fiber  plant.  Many  of  our  native  fruits  and  nuts  have  never 
been  domesticated,  and  it  is  a  startling  fact  that  our  original 
native  grasses  of  the  prairie,  numbering  many  species,  are  being 
allowed  to  disappear  without  contributing  a  single  new  race  to 
our  cultivated  grasses,  —  this,  too,  in  face  of  the  fact  that  we 
have  yet  no  grass  without  a  serious  defect. 

Except  for  the  difficulty  of  restraint,  the  deer  and  the  antelope 
would  make  valuable  domesticated  animals.  The  semidomesti- 
cation  of  the  skunk  has  already  begun  on  the  great  skunk  farms 
where  they  are  raised  in  numbers  for  their  skins.  The  frightful 
odor  of  this  animal  when  on  the  defensive  has  given  him  an 
evil  reputation,  but  in  truth  he  is  a  most  gentle  animal,  with 
much  the  disposition  of  the  cat  and  without  its  savage  ways. 
The  flesh  is  exceedingly  sweet  and  tender,  and  it  is  altogether 
likely  that  this  little  beast  may  yet  become  more  nearly  domes- 
ticated than  will  ever  be  possible  with  the  ostrich,  which  seems 
incapable  of  affection. 

Lost  possibilities.  Without  a  doubt  many  an  animal  or  plant 
now  extinct  would  have  made  a  most  valuable  domesticated 
species,  had  it  been  taken  in  time.  It  is  difficult  to  give  ex- 
amples because  we  know  so  little  of  extinct  species,  and  because 
it  is  impossible  to  make  direct  comparisons  between  a  domesti- 
cated and  a  wild  race,  either  of  the  same  or  a  different  species. 


32  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Many  good  and  useful  species,  however,  have  been  lost,  and 
many  far  less  valuable  have  lingered. 

Just  now  we  are  beginning  to  realize  the  possible  value  of  a 
species  that  has  come  upon  the  earth,  made  its  way,  and  main- 
tained its  place  among  competitors,  if  perchance  it  possesses 
qualities  that  are  now,  or  that  by  attention  may  be,  developed 
into  characters  useful  to  man.  The  muskmelon  is  an  example 
of  a  species  most  unpromising  in  nature,  and  therefore  neg- 
lected almost  until  our  own  day,  yet  yielding  readily  to  im- 
provement and  producing  most  delicious  fruit.  The  tomato  is 
another  example,  and  asparagus  another. 

Recognizing  these  facts  as  never  before,  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  at  Washington  is  scouring  the  world  in  search 
of  plants  of  possible  economic  value,  or  those  that  are  likely  to 
yield  to  the  ameliorating  influences  of  the  breeder  and  the  cul- 
tivator. Even  if  not  now  valuable,  those  that  are  likely  to  be- 
come so  are  well  worth  the  most  careful  consideration.  In  this 
way  domestication  of  plants  is  at  last  becoming  a  systematic,  not 
to  say  a  scientific,  business. 

This  search  for  the  possibly  useful  is  coming  to  be  nearly  as 
systematic  and  far-reaching  as  the  scouring  of  the  earth,  by 
such  firms  as  Parke,  Davis  &  Company,  of  Detroit,  for  plants 
with  new  and  possibly  valuable  medicinal  qualities. 

Domestication  a  gradual  process.  Southeastern  Asia  was  un- 
doubtedly the  first  area  of  domestication,  with  Egypt  a  close 
second.  Europe  came  later,  and  America  last  of  all.  Each  made 
its  contribution  to  the  stock  of  domesticated  animals  and  plants 
by  adding  what  was  lacking,  by  making  use  of  some  specially 
valuable  native,  or  by  utilizing  the  wild  stock  of  the  region  when 
the  cultivated  races  failed  to  acclimate,  as  was  the  case  with 
European  grapes  in  the  eastern  United  States. 

In  a  general  way  the  history  of  these  civilizations  is  the  story 
of  their  domestications  as  well,  and  a  critical  reading  of  that 
history  with  this  particular  subject  in  mind  affords  many  side 
lights  on  the  people,  as,  for  example,  the  terror  of  the  Indians 


DOMESTICATION  OF  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS      33 

at  the  Spaniard  on  horseback,  or  the  IsraeUtes'  fear  of  the 
mounted  army  of  the  Assyrians  before  the  Hebrews  obtained 
horses  after  the  Exodus. 

Species  that  were  domesticated.  The  only  consideration  that 
seems  to  have  guided  man  in  his  work  of  domestication  is  the 
possible  usefulness  of  the  species.  No  labor  or  pains  seem  to 
have  been  so  great,  and  no  timidity  or  ferocity  so  extreme, 
as  to  deter  him  from  his  purpose  in  the  presence  of  a  need 
unsatisfied  that  some  natural  species  might  gratify. 

At  this  point,  and  before  taking  up  questions  of  improvement, 
the  student  is  strongly  urged  to  turn  to  Part  II  and  make  a 
detailed  study  of  the  sources  from  which  our  domesticated  ani- 
mals and  plants  have  been  drawn.  If  it  is  impossible  to  do  this 
for  all  species,  let  him  at  least  do  so  for  a  selected  number.  The 
chapters  in  question  are  separated  from  the  body  of  the  work,  so 
that  they  may  be  used  either  as  text  or  reference,  according  to 
the  circumstances  and  the  need  of  the  student  or  the  school. 

Summary.  Domestication  was,  in  the  beginning,  a  matter  of  necessity  .in 
order  to  insure  a  constant  and  adequate  food  supply,  and  it  has  been  con- 
tinued as  a  means  of  contributing  to  the  comfort  and  general  prosperity  of 
man.  We  have  used  what  we  needed  and  left  the  rest  alone,  leaving  unu- 
tilized much  valuable  material.  Without  this  domestication  our  present  state 
of  civilization  could  not  have  developed,  and  we  could  not  spare  any  of  the 
prominent  races  now,  either  plant  or  animal,  without  detriment  to  man. 

The  facts  of  this  chapter  will  enable  us  to  realize  why  the  list  of  domes- 
ticated species  is  so  extensive,  and  it  will  prepare  us  for  a  more  particular 
and  detailed  study,  of  special  races  both  of  animals  and  plants,  as  outlined 
in  Part  II,  as  it  will  also  prepare  us  for  a  realization  of  the  need  of  still 
further  modifications  and  the  means  for  effecting  this  improvement. 

Exercises.  1.  In  what  respects  do  pioneers  experience  the  hardships  and 
assume  the  habits  of  primitive  man  ? 

2.  In  what  respects  do  camping  parties  revert  to  the  primitive  state? 

3.  Show  under  what  disadvantages  we  would  live  without  the  horse,  the 
cow,  or  any  other  common  animal  or  crop. 

4.  Make  a  list  of  the  domesticated  animals  and  plants  kept  by  the  Egyp- 
tians during  the  sojourn  of  the  Jews  in  bondage,  in  the  delta  of  the  Nile. 

5.  Make  a  list  of  the  domestic  animals  kept  by  the  Jews  during  the  forty 
years'  wandering  in  the  wilderness. 


34  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

6.  What  domesticated  animals  and  plants  did  the  Jews  acquire  after  ob- 
taining the  Promised  Land,  and  how  did  it  affect  their  civilization?  When 
did  they  acquire  horses? 

7.  What  animals  and  plants  had  been  wholly  or  partially  domesticated  by 
the  natives  of  North  and  South  America  before  discovery  by  the  white  man  ? 

References.  1.  Any  good  book  dealing  with  primitive  or  pioneer  life, 
such  as  "  The  Oregon  Trail  "  by  Parkman,  or  the  "  Winning  of  the  West " 
by  Roosevelt. 

2.  The  earlier  chapters  of  the  Old  Testament. 

3.  "  The  Conquest  of  Peru."    Prescott. 

4.  Any  good  book  on  the  North  American  Indians,  such  as  Parkman's 
"Jesuits  in  North  America." 


CHAPTER  IV 

NEED  OF  IMPROVEMENT  IN  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS 
AND  PLANTS 

Natural  species  not  perfectly  adjusted  to  our  needs  •  Maintenance  of  animals 
costly  •  Further  improvement  needed  •  Need  of  more  economic  service  •  Some 
individuals  better  than  others  •  Economic  significance  of  differences  in  effi- 
ciency •  The  fact  of  variability  established  •  Variability  in  a  single  character  • 
Historical  knowledge  of  original  species  needed 

Natural  species  not  perfectly  adjusted  to  our  needs.    If  our 

animal  and  plant  allies  had  been  especially  created  for  our  serv- 
ice, it  is  to  be  assumed  that  they  would  have  been  perfectly 
adapted  to  our  needs ;  but  as  they  were  appropriated  from  the 
wild,  they  ofttimes  but  imperfectly  meet  our  requirements. 

For  example,  the  horse  is  a  little  too  timid,  the  bull  too  un- 
trustworthy and  ferocious,  the  wool  of  the  sheep  either  too  coarse 
or  too  short  for  many  needs ;  and  all  animals  make  meat  only 
at  enormous  expense  of  feed,  requiring,  roughly  speaking,  about 
ten  pounds  of  grain  or  its  equivalent  for  one  pound  of  meat. 

Corn  has  a  little  too  much  oil  and  not  quite  enough  protein 
for  the  best  feeding  purposes,  and  the  stalk  is  larger  and 
heavier  than  we  would  like.  Oats  do  not  yield  sufficiently  in 
the  warmer  sections,  and  we  still  lack  an  ideal  pasture  grass  for 
most  regions  of  the  earth. 

And  so  we  might  go  on  indefinitely,  enumerating  particulars 
in  which  we  could  wish  our  domesticated  races  were  better 
adapted  to  our  requirements. 

Maintenance  of  animals  costly.  Few  realize  the  expense  of 
maintaining  our  extensive  animal  population.  One  cow  will  eat 
thirty  dollars'  worth  of  feed  in  a  year  at  ordinary  prices,  and 
more  if  she  can  get  it.  A  horse  will  eat  from  fifty  to  seventy- 
five  dollars'  worth,  according  to  the  way  in  which  he  is  kept. 

35 


36  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Besides  this,  these  animals  require  a  large  amount  of  labor  in 
caring  for  their  needs,  and  a  still  additional  expense  for  the 
shelter  of  themselves  and  their  feed.^ 

The  animal  population  of  the  United  States  in  millions  as 
compared  with  the  human  is  substantially  as  follows : 


Census  of  1900 


Estimated  for  1910 


Human  population  .  . 
Horses,  mules,  and  asses 
Cattle  of  all  kinds      .     . 

Sheep      

Swine 


7  5,000,000 
2 1 ,000,000 
67,000,000 
61,000,000 
62,000,000 


90,000,000 

27,000,000 
73,000,000 
67,000,000 
68,000,000 


With  five  people  to  the  family,  we  can  say  that  in  general, 
and  on  the  average  every  family  has  one  horse,  four  head  of 
cattle,  four  sheep,  and  four  swine,  with  several  millions  left  over, 
—  a  total  average  of  three  animals  for  each  human  inhabitant, 
or  fifteen  to  the  family.  The  estimate  for  19 lo  can  be  only 
approximate,  for  these  proportions  vary  greatly. 

It  is  little  wonder  that  we  raise  immense  acreages  of  hay, 
corn,  and  oats  to  maintain  all  these  animals.  It  is  only  on  care- 
ful thought  that  we  realize  how  much  of  our  lands  and  how 
much  of  our  labor  are  devoted  to  the  care  and  maintenance  of 
the  animals  we  have  domesticated  and  brought  to  live  among 
us,  and  whose  support  we  have  undertaken. 

There  is  argument  enough  now  for  the  highest  attainable 
efficiency  on  the  score  of  expense,  but  it  must  be  evident  to  the 
most  casual  reader  that  with  the  increase  of  human  population 

1  Read  Circular  ii8,  Experiment  Station,  University  of  Illinois,  and  see  how 
extensive  the  barns  must  be  to  shelter  the  large  number  of  inefficient  cows 
necessary  to  return  the  same  profit  as  would  be  returned  by  a  few  economical 
producers.  In  the  case  in  hand,  one  class  of  cows  return  fourteen  times  the 
profit  of  the  other.  This  would  mean  that  in  order  to  realize  a  certain  net  in- 
come, fourteen  times  as  many  cows  of  the  one  kind  would  have  to  be  kept  as 
of  the  other,  which  means  fourteen  times  as  much  barn  room,  fourteen  times 
as  much  capital  tied  up  in  feed,  fourteen  times  as  much  milking,  and  more 
than  fourteen  times  as  much  waste  and  risk. 


NEED  OF  IMPROVEMENT  37 

and  the  enhanced  value  of  lands,  the  time  will  come  when  it 
will  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  support  as  large  an  animal 
population  as  we  should  like.^  Surely  it  is  high  time  even  now 
to  push  forward  this  increase  of  efficiency  to  the  end  that  values 
shall  not  be  wasted,  and  to  the  further  end  that  as  population 
increases,  our  animal  friends  shall  be  less  a  burden  upon  us  as 
we  continue  to  enjoy  their  service. 

Further  improvement  needed.  With  some  of  our  older 
species  the  service  is  entirely  satisfactory  as  to  quality,  but  with 
most  of  the  newer  and  many  of  the  older  there  is  yet  much  to 
be  desired. 

For  example,  wheat  and  oats  are,  so  far  as  we  know,  ideal  in 
their  quality,  except  that  we  should  like  to  see  a  larger  propor- 
tion of  strong  plants  with  less  shrunken  grain.  This,  however, 
expresses  itself  in  a  matter  of  amount  rather  than  m  quality  of 
food  product.  The  cow  gives  us  good  milk,  but  not  enough  of 
it  for  the  feed  she  consumes,  and  so  others  might  be  mentioned 
that  are  satisfactory  except  as  to  amount. 

Coming  to  corn  the  case  is  different.  This  is  preeminently 
a  stock  food,  but  it  is  deficient  in  both  nitrogen  and  minerals, 
especially  phosphorus.  Can  this  deficiency  be  wholly  or  partly 
remedied  by  mixture  with  other  crops,  such  as  alfalfa,  for  ex- 
ample, or  does  something  remain  to  be  done  in  the  way  of 
altering  the  chemical  composition  of  corn  itself  ?  If  the  latter, 
the  indications  are  that  we  can  accomplish  it. 

Horses  are  now  certainly  fast  enough.  A  two-minute  gait  is 
at  the  rate  of  thirty  miles  an  hour,  which  is  neither  safe  nor 
desirable  for  ordinary  use.  However,  in  the  opinion  of  city 
teamsters,  the  horse  is  not  yet  large  enough.   For  their  business 

1  Let  the  student  exercise  his  imagination  in  picturing  the  condition  as  we 
approach  the  density  of  population  of  China,  400  to  the  square  mile.  How 
then  shall  animals  be  kept  ?  Our  population  has  doubled  four  times  in  the  last 
hundred  years.  What  will  be  the  condition  if  this  rate  of  increase  should  con- 
tinue another  hundred  years  ?  Let  the  student  make  some  estimates  covering 
this  question.  Let  him  also  determine  the  effect  of  education  upon  coming 
problems  of  this  kind. 


38  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

it  is  desirable  to  haul  as  much  freight  as  possible  with  one  team, 
one  wagon,  and  one  driver.^ 

However  fast  the  horse  may  go,  he  rarely  pleases  us  in  his 
gait  or  his  endurance,  nor  are  his  intelligence  and  docility  yet 
ideal.  The  horse  is  naturally  a  timid  animal,  and  with  his  great 
power  is  dangerous  and  growing  more  so  with  his  increasing 
spirit,  unless  his  intelligence  and  tractableness  are  made  to  keep 
pace  with  his  increasing  energy  and  action.  Our  safety  depends 
not  upon  our  strength  in  his  management,  but  upon  the  extent 
to  which  the  horse  will  take  training  and  our  ability  and  skill 
in  imparting  that  training.^  Before  a  large  proportion  of  our 
spirited  horses  are  satisfactory  at  this  point  much  is  needed  by 
way  of  further  improvement. 

In  respect  to  fruits,  vegetables,  and  ornamental  plants  much 
remains  to  be  accomplished.  Most  of  our  fruits  are  relatively 
new  and  not  completely  acclimated  or  fully  adapted  to  all  our 
soils  and  conditions.  Added  to  that  is  the  fact  that  conditions 
in  fruit  raising  have  suddenly  changed.  The  time  was  when 
every  man  picked  from  ''  his  own  vine  and  fig  tree,"  but  now 
we  expect  that  most  fruits  will  be  transported  long  distances^ 
and  still  reach  the  consumer  not  only  sound  but  fresh.  This 
is  asking  much,  and  the  present  call  is  for  desirable  "  market 
varieties,"  meaning  those  which  yield  well,  are  of  good  quality, 
and  will  stand  shipment,  especially  the  latter. 

1  As  a  good  example,  Ginn  and  Company,  the  publishers  of  this  book, 
had  in  their  service  a  single  team  that  could  and  did  haul  a  load  of  over  eight 
tons.  It  mattered  but  little  that  the  wagon  weighed  three  and  three-fourths 
tons.  One  man  drove  the  whole,  and  expensive  labor  and  long  delays  were 
avoided. 

2  People  who  are  not  horsemen  often  think  they  are  "  able  to  hold  any 
horse."  Real  horsemen  know  better,  and  fully  realize  that  the  bit  and  the  line 
are  at  best  only  guides  of  a  superior  intelligence  over  one  that  is  inferior  but 
willing  to  yield  itself  to  guidance.  For  driving  purposes,  therefore,  a  horse  is 
valuable  and  safe  in  proportion  as  he  has  been  trained  and  educated,  and 
always  under  all  circumstances  amenable  to  direction  and  control. 

8  Consider  the  shipping  of  such  delicate  California  fruits  as  peaches,  pears, 
and  grapes  over  the  entire  United  States  and  the  exportation  of  apples  to 
Europe. 


NEED  OF  IMPROVEMENT  39 

There  is  no  especial  difficulty  in  combining  yield  and  quality, 
but  the  best  varieties  are  in  general  too  delicate  to  withstand 
shipment  for  long  distances  unless  picked  green,  which  is  an  in- 
jury to  the  flavor,  except  in  such  cases  as  the  banana  and  the  pear. 
That  the  ideal  market  apple  has  not  yet  been  produced  is  a  fact 
that  shows  what  remains  to  be  done.  Many  more  new  varieties 
of  pears,  grapes,  strawberries,  raspberries,  and  blackberries  will 
continue  to  be  produced  before  all  sections  will  be  supplied  with 
the  best  varieties  both  for  home  use  and  market  purposes. 

Vegetables  are  in  much  the  same  condition  as  fruits.  Vast 
improvement  in  most  kinds  has  been  effected  within  recent 
years,  and  it  is  still  going  on  at  a  rapid  rate.  The  tomato  has 
been  developed  from  the  worthless  ''  love  apple  "  within  the  life- 
time of  men  yet  living,  who  remember  when  this  now  luscious 
fruit  suffered  an  evil  reputation  as  the  supposed  cause  of  cancer. 

Asparagus,  lettuce,  and  radishes  have  been  wonderfully  im- 
proved within  a  generation,  not  to  mention  celery  and  sweet 
corn  ;  and  as  matters  are  going  now,  onions  will  be  made  more 
delicate  in  their  flavor,  and  many  a  vegetable  will  come  into 
common  use  that  is  hardly  yet  introduced. 

The  development  of  new  and  beautiful  varieties  of  flowers 
and  other  ornamental  plants  is  only  begun.  Out  of  the  mate- 
rials at  hand  new  and  unheard-of  effects  will  be  produced  now 
that  plant  breeding  is  coming  to  be  studied  and  understood 
as  a  science. 

Need  of  more  economic  service.  The  first  great  need  for 
better  plants  and  animals  is  in  the  interest  of  larger  return 
for  the  expense  involved.  It  costs  no  more  to  fit  and  cultivate 
the  ground  for  a  fifty-bushel  crop  of  corn  than  for  a  thirty- 
bushel  crop,^  in  which  case  the  extra  twenty  bushels  are  clear 
gain.  If  ten  or  twenty  ears  of  corn  of  the  same  variety,  and  as 
nearly  alike  as  possible,  be  planted  in  separate  rows  side  by  side, 

1  The  average  corn  crop  is  about  thirty  bushels,  yet  the  most  profitable 
crop  at  the  University  of  Illinois  has  averaged  ninety-six  bushels  for  the  last 
three  years. 


40 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


it  will  be  found  that  some  of  the  rows  will  yield  two  and  often 
three  times  as  much  as  others,^  all  of  which  proves  that  some 
varieties  or  strains  will  produce  fifty  bushels  as  easily  as  others 
will  produce  thirty,  showing  conclusively  the  need  of  better 
seed,  or  rather  of  the  best  that  is  obtainable. 

Professor  Fraser,  head  of  the  dairy  department  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois,  has  conducted  many  hundreds  of  actual  tests, 
aiming  to  secure  reliable  data  on  the  relative  efficiency  of  cows. 
These  tests  are  of  two  general  kinds  :  one  conducted  away 
from  the  University  on  the  commercial  herds  of  the  state, 
aiming  to  secure  the  yearly  product  with  only  approximate 
reference  to  the  food  consumption ;  the  other  conducted  at  the 
University  under  the  most  careful  conditions,  and  aiming  to 
secure  records  of  the  nutrients  consumed,  as  well  as  of  the 
milk  and  fat  produced. 

Of  the  commercial-herd  tests  something  over  twelve  hundred 
individuals  have  been  tested  for  periods  running  from  one  to 
three  years.  Their  average  animal  production  was  5521  pounds 
of  milk  and  2 1 9  pounds  of  fat  distributed  as  follows  : 

Relative  Milk-Producing  Powers  of  1200  Cows  for  One  Year 


Milk 

Number  below 

Per  cent  below 

Number  above 

Per cent above 

Average 

2,000  lb. 

10 

I  — 

1190 

99  + 

5'554  lb. 

3,000  lb. 

69 

6- 

II31 

94  + 

5,704  lb. 

4,000  lb. 

243 

20  -1- 

957 

80- 

6,092  lb. 

5,000  lb. 

495 

41  + 

705 

59- 

6,650  lb. 

6,000  lb. 

753 

63- 

447 

37  + 

7,322  lb. 

7,000  lb. 

963 

80  + 

237 

20  — 

8,081  lb. 

8,000  lb. 

1096 

91  +      ■ 

104 

9- 

8,943  lb. 

9,000  lb. 

1160 

97  - 

40 

3  + 

9.770  lb. 

10,000  lb. 

1 186 

99- 

14 

I  + 

10,734  lb. 

1 1,000  lb. 

1 197 

3 

11,893  lb- 

1 2,000  lb. 

"99 

I 

12,1 17  lb. 

1  This  is  an  experiment  that  every  student  can  readily  verify,  and  it  is 
recommended  that  he  do  it. 


NEED  OF  IMPROVEMENT  4 1 

Relative  Fat-Producing  Powers  of  1200  Cows  for  One  Year 


Butter  fat 

Number  below 

Per  cent  below 

Number  above 

Per cent above 

Average 

50  lb. 

2 

I  — 

1 198 

99  + 

219  lb. 

100  lb. 

24 

2 

II76 

98 

222  lb. 

1501b. 

194 

16  + 

1006 

84- 

238  lb. 

200  lb. 

490 

31    - 

710 

59  + 

263  lb. 

250  lb. 

837 

70- 

363 

30  + 

302  lb. 

300  lb. 

1065 

89- 

135 

II  + 

353  lb. 

350  lb. 

I  140 

95 

60 

5 

394  lb. 

400  lb. 

I  178 

98  + 

22 

2  — 

438  lb. 

450  lb. 

I  194 

99  + 

6 

I  — 

477  lb. 

500  lb. 

I  199 

I 

539  lb- 

These  tables  should  be  read  as  follows  :  In  the  first  table,  10 
cows,  or  I  per  cent  of  the  whole,  gave  less  than  2000  pounds 
of  milk;  and  1190,  or  99  per  cent,  gave  more  than  2000 
pounds,  the  average  of  these  being  5554  pounds,  and  so  on 
for  other  values. 

Some  comments  on  these  facts  are  significant.  The  average 
production  of  these  1200  cows  was  5521  pounds  of  milk,  and 
219  pounds  of  butter  fat.  The  best  one  fourth  were  able  to  pro- 
duce an  average  of  7813  pounds  of  milk  and  312  pounds  of 
butter  fat  per  year,  while  the  poorest  one  fourth  were  able  to 
produce  on  the  average  only  3435  pounds  of  milk  and  1 37  pounds 
of  fat ;  that  is  to  say,  waiving  all  questions  of  food  consumption, 
the  poorest  one  fourth  produced  but  something  over  43  per  cent 
as  much  milk  and  fat  as  did  the  best  one  fourth. 

A  series  of  publications  from  the  department  shows  exhaus- 
tively the  meaning  of  these  facts.  Some  of  these  were  published 
before  the  entire  number  of  records  were  in,  but  the  relation 
between  the  good  and  the  poor  cow  was  substantially  the  same. 

Some  individuals  better  than  others.  One  of  the  most  strik- 
ing facts  in  the  above  herd  tests  is  the  wonderful  difference  in 
efficiency  of  individual  cows,  even  of  the  same  age  and  breed. 
Thus  they  ranged  all  the  way  from  less  than  2000  pounds  of 


42 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


milk  per  year  up  to  over  12,000,  and  from  less  than  50  pounds 
of  butter  fat  ^  to  over  500  pounds.  Manifestly  a  whole  herd  like 
the  poorer  cows  would  swamp  their  owner  unless  prices  were 
enormous  or  unless  their  food  consumption  were  correspond- 
ingly lower. 

To  test  this  point,  the  department  conducted  investigations 
into  the  relative  efficiency  of  commercial  cows  on  the  basis  of 
food  consumed.  Accordingly  two  or  more  cows  were  purchased 
from  each  of  several  of  the  largest  commercial  herds  of  the 
state,  the  aim  being  in  every  case  to  secure  the  very  best  and 
the  very  poorest  individuals  in  the  herd,  according  to  the  best 
basis  of  judgment  at  hand.  The  yearly  record  of  these  cows 
is  shown  in  the  following  table : 

Variability  of  Cows  on  the  Basis  of  Food  Consumption 


No.  of 
cow  2 

Grades 

Total 
milk 

Total 
fat 

Digestible 
nutrient* 

Ratio 
n^m" 

Ratio 
n^f« 

83 
84 

Good 
Poor 

11,794 
8,157 

382 
324 

7418 
6737 

0.63 
0.82 

19.42 
20.79 

85 
86 

Good 
Poor 

9,591 
3,097 

406 
119 

7532 
4998 

0.78 
I.61 

18.55 
42.00 

93 
94 

Good 
Poor 

9,473 
7,845 

358 
282 

7604 
6706 

0.80 
0.85 

21.24 
23.80 

95 
96 

Good 
Poor 

14,840 
7,685 

469 
324 

8379 
6871 

0.56 
0.81 

17.08 
21.20 

97 
98 

Good 
Poor 

8,562 
1,411 

291 

52 

6893 
4062 

0.80 

2.88 

23.68 
78.00 

1  By  butter  fat  is  meant  not  butter,  but  the  fat  of  butter.   Commercial  butter 
contains  about  85  per  cent  fat,  the  rest  being  water,  salt,  curd,  etc. 

2  Numbers  by  which  the  cows  were  designated  in  the  records. 
^  Each  group  from  the  same  herd. 

*  After  multiplying  number  of  pounds  of  fat  by  2.4.    This  represents  the 
amount  of  food  digested  by  each  cow. 

*  n  -f-  m  =  nutrients  divided  by  milk  produced. 

*  n  -T-  f  =  nutrients  divided  by  fat  produced. 


NEED  OF  IMPROVEMENT  43 

A  number  of  significant  facts  appear  in  this  table.  The  herd 
which  furnished  Nos.  83  and  84  was  evidently  a  good  herd,  for 
they  were  both  good  cows,  though  one  was  bought  for  a  poor 
cow.  While  the  two  differ  widely  in  total  production,  they  differ 
almost  correspondingly  in  food  consumption,  and  the  ratios  for 
fat  production  were  close  together. 

On  the  other  hand,  Nos,  85,  86,  though  coming  from  the 
same  herd,  betray  wide  differences.  The  good  cow.  No.  85,  was 
more  than  twice  as  efficient  as  her  mate.  No.  86,  whether  we 
consider  fat  or  milk. 

Nos.  93  and  94,  coming  from  the  same  herd,  were  both  me- 
dium cows,  which  goes  far  to  show  that  the  herdsman's  estimate 
of  his  cows  is  frequently  far  from  correct. 

The  very  low  producing  power  of  No.  98  is  remarkable,  re- 
quiring 2.88  pounds  of  nutrient  for  a  pound  of  milk,  and  over 
78  pounds  of  nutrient  for  a  pound  of  fat,  —  not  quite  one  quarter 
the  efficiency  of  No.  83. 

The  very  high  efficiency  of  two  of  these  cows  is  noticeable, 
being  more  than  five  times  that  of  the  poorest  cow  mentioned 
before,  and  more  than  twice  the  eflftciency  of  the  poorer  cows  in 
the  permanent  herd. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  some  especially  good  individuals 
have  been  pitted  for  a  long  time  against  others  of  inferior 
ability.  For  example,  Rose  and  Nora  ^  consumed  within  a  year 
almost  exactly  the  same  amount  of  the  same  kind  of  feed,  the 
difference  being  less  than  5  per  cent.  They  were  both  rela- 
tively heavy  feeders,  each  consuming  something  over  6000 
pounds  of  digestible  nutrients.  Rose  produced  564.82  pounds 
of  fat,  and  Nora  298.64,  a  ratio  of  1.9  to  i.  When  we  remem- 
ber that  Nora,  the  poorer  cow,  was  not  a  poor  cow  at  all,  but 
that  she  belongs  with  the  best  fourth  of  the  1 200  tested  in  the 

1  The  story  of  Rose  and  Queen,  the  latter  another  and  a  really  poor  cow, 
has  been  entertainingly  told  in  Circular  loj  of  the  dairy  department  of  the 
University  of  Illinois,  which  has  issued  also  Circular  118,  Cows  vs.  Cows,  deal- 
ing with  the  difference  in  efficiency  of  cows,  and  its  meaning  to  the  profits  of 
dairying  and  the  cost  of  dairy  products  to  the  consumer. 


44  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

commercial  herds  of  the  state,  this  difference  is  exceedingly  sig- 
nificant. Rose  was,  of  course,  an  exceptional  cow,  producing  in 
another  test  over  two  and  one-half  times  as  much  as  her  com- 
petitor, and  making  a  twelve-year  record  of  7258  pounds  of 
milk,  and  360  pounds  of  butter  fat  on  the  average  (384  pounds 
of  fat  for  ten  years),  and  never  being  beaten  but  once  in  all  the 
dairy  tests  ever  conducted  at  this  station.  Professor  Mumford, 
also  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  has  shown  that  substantially 
the  same  differences  exist  between  beef  animals  in  respect  to 
the  amount  of  gain  for  food  consumed,  ^  so  that  the  principle 
involved  seems  general. 

Economic  significance  of  differences  in  efficiency.  The  mean- 
ing of  all  this  is  not  at  once  clear,  and  some  little  effort  is 
needed  to  fully  appreciate  the  economic  significance  of  differ- 
ences such  as  are  here  brought  out,  and  the  consequent  desira- 
bility of  bringing  our  common  animals  to  the  highest  possible 
degree  of  efficiency.  When  one  cow  can  make  two  and  one- 
half  times  as  much  as  another  on  the  same  feed,  the  difference 
is  not  as  two  and  one-half  is  to  one,  but  many  times  greater. 
Under  these  conditions,  when  one  cow  makes  100  pounds  of 
butter,  the  other  will  make  250  pounds  on  the  same  feed ;  but 
the  question  of  relative  profits  depends  also  upon  two  other 
factors, — the  cost  of  feed  and  the  price  of  butter.  P'or  the  sake 
of  illustration  let  us  suppose,  first,  that  it  costs  the  value  of 
50  pounds  of  butter  to  pay  for  the  food  consumed,  which  is  the 
same  in  both  cases.  The  profit  would  then  be,  in  the  one  case, 
the  value  of  100—50  (or  50)  pounds  of  butter;  and  in  the 
other,  250  —  50  (or  200)  pounds,  which  is  7tot  two  and  one-half 
but  four  times  as  much. 

Suppose  again  that  feed  is  higher  or  butter  lower,  so  that  it 
now  costs  the  value  not  of  50  pounds  but  of  90  pounds  to  pay 
for  the  cost  of  feed.  In  this  case  the  profit  for  the  poorest  cow 
is  the  value  of  100  —  90  (or  10)  pounds  of  butter,  and  for  the 
other  it  is  the  value  of  250  —  90  (or  160)  pounds  of  butter, 

1  See  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  p.  82. 


NEED  OF  IMPROVEMENT  45 

which  is  sixteen  times  as  much,  not  to  mention  the  additional 
expense  for  shelter  and  labor,  or  the  extra  capital  involved  in 
the  larger  amount  of  feed  consumed  by  the  less  economical 
cow.  Surely  we  need  no  better  argument  to  show  the  necessity 
for  further  improvement  of  cows. 

We  are  in  a  transition  stage,  also,  in  the  matter  of  meat  pro- 
duction, and  have  need  of  the  most  economical  consumers  of 
our  feed.  If  we  neglect  this  point,  our  own  meat  will  not  only 
cost  too  much, -but  we  shall  be  driven  out  of  foreign  markets  by 
such  competitors  as  Argentina.  The  first  to  suffer  in  such  an 
event  would  be  the  farmers,  and  afterward  all  classes  of  people 
would  suffer  together.^ 

The  fact  of  variability  established.  All  this  tends  to  establish 
the  fact  that  all  individuals  of  the  same  species  are  not  equally 
valuable,  and  plenty  of  evidence  of  a  similar  character  can  be 
adduced  to  show  that  no  two  individuals,  even  of  the  same 
species  or  breed,  are  exactly  alike. 

Of  the  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  personally 
seen  by  each  of  us,  we  find  many  similarities  but  no  dupli- 
cates ;  moreover,  the  differences  are  many  and  extreme.  Some 
individuals  have  dark  hair,  others  light ;  with  some  it  is  thick, 
with  others  thin  ;  now  it  is  straight  and  again  it  is  curly  or 
wavy.  Some  eyes  are  blue  ;  others  are  black  or  brown.  One 
man  is  tall  and  slender,  while  even  his  brother  is  short  and 
stout.  Some  are  broad-shouldered  ;  others  are  thin-chested, 
with  narrow  shoulders.  Some  have  large  hands  and  feet,  others 
small,  and  a  few  have  small  hands  with  large  feet.  One  has  a 
mole  on  his  cheek  ;  another  has  one  on  his  neck  or  his  nose  or 
perhaps  none  at  all.  One  man  has  an  extra  thumb  on  one  hand; 
another  has  six  fingers  on  each  hand.  One  is  bow-legged ; 
another  is  knock-kneed.  Here  is  a  hunchback,  there  a  giant, 
and  again  we  see  a  dwarf.  One  is  crazy  ;  another  is  a  criminal. 
Some  are  handsome  and  others  are  ugly.    Some  are  brilliant, 

1  The  student  may  well  study  this  question  and  show,  by  written  argument, 
how  it  is  that  all  classes  will  prosper  or  suffer  together  with  the  farmer. 


46  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

others  idiotic.  Some  are  deaf,  others  lame  or  bUnd.  Some  are 
deficient  by  a  hand  ;  others  lack  a  leg. 

Some  are  musicians,  others  orators  or  actors.  Some  like 
mathematics ;  others  love  literature.  Some  are  farmers,  others 
lawyers  or  engineers.  Many  succeed  ;  many  fail.  Between  even 
the  traditional  twins  that  "  look  so  nearly  alike  that  their  mother 
could  not  tell  them  apart,"  important  differences  will  be  found 
if  a  trained  observer  looks  closely  enough. ^ 

All  this  is  equally  true  of  animals  and  plants.  It  is  only  to 
the  untrained  that  all  individuals  of  the  same  species  look  alike. 
Horses  differ  so  much  in  size,  color,  conformation,  gait,  and 
disposition  that  it  is  difficult  indeed  to  get  together  a  "  matched 
span."  2  Some  are  intelligent  and  proud  of  their  work ;  others 
are  foolish,  sluggish,  and  unreliable.  Sheep  differ  not  only  in 
the  quantity  of  the  fleece  but  in  the  fineness  of  the  fiber  as  well 
as  in  the  density  and  the  evenness  of  covering.^ 

No  two  trees  bear  apples  alike,  and  even  different  apples  on 
the  same  tree  differ  not  only  in  size  but  in  quality.  Some 
melons  are  fine  in  texture  and  flavor ;  others  of  equal  size  are 
''  like  pumpkins."  One  tree  bears  specially  luscious  peaches ; 
another  is  next  to  worthless. 

Among  wildlings  the  same  principle  holds.  Some  horses  are 
fleeter  than  others  and  some  wolves  more  cunning.^  Every 
woods  boy  knows  the  bushes  that  bear  the  most  luscious  berries 
and  the  tree  that  bears  the  largest  and  the  best  flavored  nuts, 

1  Even  opposite  sides  of  the  same  individual  are  slightly  different.  One 
shoulder  is  higher  than  the  other ;  one  leg  is  longer  or  stronger  than  the 
other,  meaning  a  longer  step  and  causing  lost  people  to  travel  in  a  circle. 
Everybody  is  either  "  right-"  or  "  left-handed,"  meaning  by  this  that  the  cor- 
responding side  is  the  better  developed  and  capable  of  stronger  or  more 
accurate  action. 

*  To  the  casual  observer  two  horses  colored  alike  are  matched,  but  the 
horseman  looks  first  to  the  gait,  then  to  conformation  and  size,  and  last  of  all 
to  the  color. 

8  The  wool  is  finest  and  longest  on  the  sides  and  back,  shortest  underneath, 
and  coarsest  on  the  thighs. 

*  Read  the  story  of  Lobo  in  "  Wild  Animals  I  Have  Known,"  by  Thompson- 
Seton. 


NEED  OF  IMPROVEMENT  47 

and  every  botanist  will  tell  you  that  we  may  hunt  forever  with- 
out finding  two  plants  exactly  alike,  so  mightily  are  the  materials 
mixed  out  of  which  races  and  individuals  are  made.  This  is 
variation  or  variability^  and  upon  this  fact  are  selection  and 
improvement  based. 

Variability  in  a  single  character.  Variability  arises  in  two 
distinctly  different  ways  :  first,  by  different  associations  of  char- 
acters, as  when  one  individual  is  red  and  white  and  another  is 
black  and  white  ;  and,  second,  by  different  degrees  of  develop- 


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Fig.  7.   Jersey  cow,  Figgis  76106,  property  of  C.  I.  Hood  &  Company, 

Lowell,  Massachusetts.   Champion  and  Grand  Champion,  World's  Fair, 

St.  Louis,  1904.   547  lbs.  6  oz.  butter  in  7  J  months.    Such  a  cow  is  worth 

perhaps  a  dozen  of  the  ordinary  kind  that  make  125  lbs.  in  a  year 

ment  of  the  separate  characters,  as  when  one  individual  is 
simply  larger  or  fleeter  or  darker-colored  than  another.  Either 
gives  rise  to  what  is  known  as  variation,  and  either  may  afford 
the  basis  for  natural  selection. 

However  the  racial  characters  may  be  mixed  in  different  in- 
dividuals, it  will  be  found  on  close  inspection  that  the  separate 
characters  are  themselves  highly  variable  ;  that  is  to  say,  varia- 
bility is  not  confined  to  individuals  but  is  a  property  of  each  and 


48  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

every  character  that  enters  into  the  composition  of  individuals 
and  of  races. 

Thus  among  sweet  apples  some  are  sweeter  than  others  within 
the  same  variety,  and  this  is  true  quite  independent  of  color  or 
size.  Of  all  the  trotting  horses  in  the  world  some  can  go  in  2 140, 
some  in  2  :  30,  a  few  in  2  :  20,  and  a  very  few  in  2:05  or  less. 

Of  a  thousand  ears  of  corn  taken  at  random  from  the  same 
field  and  of  the  same  variety,  some  will  be  short  and  others 
long,  while  the  rest  will  stand  between.  This  is  variability  in 
a  single  character.  It  is,  moreover,  a  kind  of  variability  that 
can  be  exhaustively  studied  by  exact  statistical  methods,  — a  study 
that  is  strongly  recommended  not  only  for  its  exactness  but  for 
its  influence  in  fixing  definite  notions  of  type  and  that  devi- 
ation from  type  which  is  called  variability.  These  methods  of 
study  are  given  in  a  later  chapter,  a  careful  study  of  which  is 
strongly  recommended  at  this  point. 

Historical  knowledge  of  original  species  needed.  In  order  to 
devise  practical  methods  of  still  further  improving  the  domesti- 
cated races  and  more  completely  adapting  them  to  the  service 
of  men,  we  need,  first  of  all,  to  know  everything  possible  of  the 
character  of  the  original  species  as  they  lived  in  a  state  of  nature, 
—  how  they  behaved  toward  one  another  and  how  they  prospered 
before  man  interfered  with  their  affairs.  In  other  words,  from  the 
way  of  the  wild  we  can  learn  substantial  lessons  as  to  methods  of 
improvement,  and  this  we  propose  to  outline  in  the  next  chapter. 

Summary.  No  plant  or  animal  has  yet  been  brought  to  its  highest  state 
of  efficiency,  though  some  individuals  are  vastly  superior  to  others,  and  vari- 
ability is  universal.  Besides  this,  our  needs  and  our  desires  are  constantly 
changing,  mostly  by  way  of  advance.  There  is  need,  then,  for  still  further 
improvement,  and  the  best  course  to  pursue  in  deciding  upon  methods  is, 
first  of  all,  to  study  species  in  a  state  of  nature,  where  these  species  existed 
in  the  wild  for  many  generations  previous  to  domestication. 

Exercises.  1.  The  student  should  calculate  with  as  much  accuracy  as 
possible  and  report  upon  the  cost  of  maintaining  domestic  animals  in  his 
own  neighborhood,  especially  as  influencing  the  cost  of  meat  and  milk 
production. 


NEED  OF  IMPROVEMENT  49 

2.  Let  him  compute  the  amount  of  land  and  the  proportion  of  our  crops 
devoted  to  the  support  of  our  animal  population.  Let  him  also  estimate  the 
relative  cost  of  vegetable  and  animal  food,  remembering  that  a  pound  of 
meat  contains  no  more  nourishment  than  an  equal  weight  of  grain. 

3.  Take  the  domesticated  animals  and  plants  one  by  one  and  describe 
the  changes  we  should  like  in  each  to  still  better  adapt  it  to  our  needs, 
going  well  into  the  subject ;  as,  for  example,  that  blue  grass  would  be  a 
better  pasture  grass  if  it  had,  or  could  be  given,  a  deeper  rooting  habit. 

4.  Plant  ten  ears  of  corn  that  look  as  much  alike  as  possible,  each  in  a 
separate  row,  and  take  the  yield  of  each. 

5.  With  the  scales  and  the  Babcock  tester  test  at  least  ten  cows  for 
relative  amount  of  fat  in  the  milk. 

6.  Point  out  definite  respects  in  which  cows  and  corn,  for  example,  need 
improvement,  and  do  the  same  for  other  animals  and  plants. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD 

The  astonishing  abundance  of  life  •  The  struggle  for  existence  •  Selective 
effect  of  the  natural  conditions  •  Competition  for  food  •  Competition  for  room  • 
Competition  most  severe  between  individuals  of  the  same  species  •  Natural 
selection  •  Survival  of  the  fittest  •  The  individual  and  the  race  •  Significance  of 
numbers  •  Significance  of  vigor  and  length  of  life  •  Significance  of  offensive 
and  defensive  weapons  •  Significance  of  protective  coloring  and  markings  • 
Mimicry  •  Design  in  nature  •  Causes  of  color  in  animals  and  plants 

Before  we  can  discuss  to  best  advantage  the  means  of  further 
improving  our  animals  and  plants  it  is  necessary  that  we  under- 
stand as  well  as  possible  the  conditions  and  habits  of  life  to 
which  they  were  accustomed  in  the  natural  state  before  they 
came  to  us,  because  out  of  this  we  shall  evolve  a  method  of 
procedure  for  further  improvement. 

The  astonishing  abundance  of  life.  The  most  conspicuous 
fact  in  nature  is  the  astonishing  abundance  of  life  and  the  ex- 
ceeding rapidity  with  which  all  living  beings  multiply.  Whether 
animal  or  plant,  large  or  small,  powerful  or  puny,  every  species 
multiplies  according  to  the  laws  of  geometrical  progression, 
each  with  a  ratio  of  its  own. 

The  effect  of  this  fact  upon  mere  numbers  is  a  point  not 
easily  comprehended.  The  fastest-multiplying  forms  are  the 
bacteria,  some  species  of  which  are  able,  under  good  conditions, 
to  double  every  twenty  minutes.  At  this  rate  a  single  individual 
with  its  descendants  would,  if  uninterrupted,  fill  all  the  oceans 
of  the  earth  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time. 

A  single  ear  of  corn  of  good  size  has  one  thousand  kernels, 
and  an  average  ear  has,  say,  six  hundred,  each  capable  of  repro- 
ducing a  similar  ear.  How  long  would  it  take  at  this  rate  for 
the  product  of  one  ear  to  cover  the  cultivated  earth .? 

so 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD 


51 


Man  is  one  of  the  slowest  of  animals  to  multiply,  yet  under 
good  conditions  his  numbers  may  double  in  twenty-five  years ; 
indeed  this  rate  has  been  maintained  in  this  country  because 
the  population  of  the  United  States  has  doubled  four  times  in 
the  last  century,  with  four  wars  to  reduce  numbers.  If  this  ratio 
could  continue  for  another  hundred  years,  we  should  have  by  that 
time  no  less  than  fourteen  hundred  millions  of  people  in  this 
country,  making  a  denser  population  than  that  of  China  to-day.^ 

Few  wild  animals  are  known  but  will  breed  faster  than  man, 
and  it  takes  but  slight  exercise  of  the  imagination  to  see  how 
reproduction  might  go  on,  were  there  nothing  to  check  it,  until 
there  would  no  longer  be  even  standing  room  on  earth  for  the 
animals  alone,  to  say  nothing  of  their  food. 

The  possible  rate  of  increase  of  plants  is  indeed  enormous. 
It  is  said  that  the  common  pigweed  ripens  from  three  to  four 
thousand  seeds,  and  a  large  plant  of  purslane  as  many  as  a 
million,  explaining  one  reason  why  they  are  such  troublesome 
weeds.  Plants  that  seed  thus  freely  are  exceedingly  difficult  of 
eradication,  especially  if  the  seeds  are  hardy .^ 

Plant  lice  are  still  more  prolific  than  weeds.  Dr.  S.  A.  Forbes, 
state  entomologist  of  Illinois,  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  a 
single  corn-root  aphis  is  capable  of  producing  ninety-eight  young, 
and  that  sixteen  generations  are  possible  in  a  single  season.  At 
half  this  rate  of  increase  he  computes  that  if  the  successive  off- 
spring of  a  single  female  and  her  descendants  for  a  single  season 
could  be  put  upon  an  acre  of  land  at  Cairo  at  the  southern  end 
of  the  state  and  placed  as  thick  as  they  could  stand,  then  on 
top  of  this  set  another  acre,  and  so  on  without  crushing  till  the 
end  of  the  season,  and  if  then  the  column  could  be  tipped  to 

1  Showing  the  extent  to  which  social,  economic,  and  political  considerations 
will  shortly  turn  upon  our  power  to  feed  our  people,  and  that  in  turn  upon 
questions  of  land  fertility. 

2  The  cocklebur  ripens  two  seeds  in  one  bur.  One  of  these  is  larger  than 
the  other  and  under  equal  conditions  will  germinate  first.  This  weed,  there- 
fore, has  two  distinctly  separate  chances  of  propagation  with  respect  to  con- 
ditions of  germination  alone. 


52  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

the  north  till  it  should  lie  upon  the  ground,  it  would  reach  to 
Chicago  (360  miles)  and  twenty-three  miles  beyond  into  Lake 
Michigan  ;  that  is  to  say,  that  the  descendants  of  a  single 
corn-root  louse  at  half  the  maximum  rate  could  in  a  single  sea- 
son, if  uninterrupted,  reproduce  enough  to  make  a  solid  column 
I  acre  square  and  383  miles  long,  —  a  perfectly  inconceivable 
number.  After  this  computation  it  is  not  difficult  to  believe  the 
truth  of  the  assertion  that  certain  bacteria  that  can  double  in 
about  twenty  minutes  would  be  able  in  a  few  days,  if  unre- 
stricted, to  fill  all  the  oceans  of  the  earth. 

With  this  enormous  birth  rate  it  becomes  important  to  study 
carefully  the  checks  to  increase,  and  the  various  means  by  which 
living  things  have  been  prevented  long  ago  from  absolutely 
overrunning  the  earth,  where  standing  room,  to  say  nothing  of 
food,  is  limited.  What,  now,  are  the  conditions  and  mutual 
relations  between  these  immense  numbers  of  diverse  species 
as  they  live  together  in  a  state  of  nature  ? 

The  struggle  for  existence.  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that 
species,  are  indifferent  to  each  other  except  when  interests  clash, 
and  then  one  or  the  other  must  go  under,  for  the  law  of  the 
wild  is  that  everything  lives  not  where  it  chooses  to  live  but 
where  it  is  able  to  live.  When  so  many  more  individuals  are 
produced  than  can  possibly  find  food  and  room  to  survive,  there 
ensues  at  once  a  battle  for  life,  which  has  by  common  consent 
been  called,  as  Darwin  named  it,  the  struggle  for  existence.^ 

This  is  a  many-sided  struggle,  —  a  kind  of  three-cornered 
fight,  —  first  against  natural  conditions  in  general,  then  against 
the  competition  of  other  species,  and,  last  of  all,  against  the 
competition  of  its  own  kind.  This  elemental  warfare,  for  it  is  a 
warfare,  though  generally  unknown  to  the  participants  and  often 
not  noticeable  except  to  the  trained  observer,  —  this  warfare  is 

*  In  this  general  connection  read  "  Origin  of  Species  by  Means  of  Natural 
Selection,"  by  Charles  Darwin.  It  is  an  old  and  much  misunderstood  book, 
rather  difficult,  it  is  true,  but  well  worth  the  careful  reading  of  all  students  of 
life  in  the  wild. 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD  53 

always  on,  and  its  complications  are  so  many  and  so  intricate 
and  its  consequences  so  profound  that  a  little  space  is  well  de- 
voted to  its  analysis. 

Selective  effect  of  natural  conditions.  There  is  a  blind  but 
wholesale  struggle  of  living  things  against  what  may  be  called 
natural  conditions,  which  assert  their  influence  independent  of 
struggle  against  competition  with  other  living  beings,  and  gen- 
erally before  it  begins. 

First  of  all  are  climatic  and  seasonal  influences.  Hosts  of 
young  things,  both  plant  and  animal,  come  into  existence  only 
to  perish  on  the  spot  from  adverse  climatic  influences.  Many 
species  exist,  in  northern  latitudes  for  example,  only  by  the 
narrowest  margin,  and  one  exceptionally  hard  winter  will  close 
them  out  by  the  millions.  In  this  way  whole  fields  of  wheat 
and  clover  are  "winter  killed,"  as  we  say,  and  whole  forests 
die  after  an  exceptionally  dry  summer  followed  by  an  unusually 
severe  winter. 

A  sudden  freshet  may  wash  away  in  immense  numbers  the 
season's  crop  of  seeds  of  maple,  elm,  or  oak,  and  send  them 
downstream  to  rot  in  the  lowlands.  The  same  freshet  may  kill 
a  valuable  lot  of  mature  timber  downstream  and  change  forever 
the  flora  of  the  locality.^ 

A  wet  summer  may  drown  most  of  the  bumblebees,  and  then 
the  farmers  need  have  small  expectation  as  to  the  crop  of  clover 
seed,  which  is  dependent  upon  bees  for  fertilization. 

A  late  fall  may  so  stimulate  growth  in  peach  trees  and  other 
tender  plants  as  to  prevent  that  ''  ripening  "  of  the  wood  neces- 
sary to  a  successful  endurance  of  extreme  cold.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  ''warm  spell  "  in  winter  may  start  the  buds,  after  which 
a  ''  cold  snap  "  will  kill  outright  in  a  day  the  prospective  crop 
of  the  year.  The  apple  crop  is  occasionally  lost  by  late  cold 
weather  after   ''  setting "   of  the  young  fruit.    Of  course  this 

1  When  the  Chicago  drainage  canal  was  dug,  many  bodies  of  timber  along 
the  banks  of  the  Illinois  were  killed  by  the  new  water  level  established,  and 
many  damage  suits  resulted. 


54  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

particular  instance  has  no  direct  effect  upon  vegetation,  but  it 
serves  to  illustrate  the  accident  of  season  and  its  influence  upon 
a  new  crop  of  seed. 

Extreme  and  continued  rains  at  pollination  will  reduce  the 
yield  of  corn.^  A  hot  wind  may  have  the  same  effect  by  kill- 
ing and  drying  up  the  tender  young  silk  before  the  pollen  has 
opportunity  to  fertilize. 

Fire  plays  frightful  havoc  with  vegetation,  especially  in  the 
forest,  and  utterly  prevents  the  appearance  of  certain  species 
on  fire-swept  lands  ;  ^  indeed,  few  can  endure  a  periodic  baptism 
of  flame. 

Again,  every  species  has  its  northern  and  its  southern  limits,  as 
well  as  its  limits  of  higher  and  lower  altitudes.  As  it  nears  these 
limits  it  not  only  exists  with  greater  difficulty,  but  its  existence  is 
more  precarious,  and  a  little  thing  will  turn  the  tide  for  thousands 
of  individuals,  perhaps  temporarily,  perhaps  permanently. 

The  hard  winter  not  only  kills  vegetation  but  freezes  up  the 
water  supply  and  often  shuts  off  the  food  till  bird  and  beast  in 
the  melting  snows  next  spring  give  mute  testimony  to  the 
sufferings  they  have  endured  and  the  losing  fight  they  have 
waged,  just  as  a  number  of  years  ago  the  longspurs  were 
caught  in  passage  by  a  Dakota  blizzard  and  were  literally  killed 
by  the  millions. 

In  this  general  way  what  may  be  called  the  blind  forces  of 
nature  take  their  toll  of  life,  and  it  is  a  heavy  toll  indeed,  whole- 
sale and  sweeping,  relentless  as  fate  and  tireless  as  time. 

Competition  for  food.  After  all  this,  however,  a  heavy  balance 
remains,  —  a  balance  always  too  heavy  for  the  food  supply. 

1  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  pollen  grains  stick  together  and  fall  in 
little  pellets  rather  than  singly,  as  they  should,  in  a  fine  yellow  dust,  reach- 
ing each  of  the  thousand  silks  of  a  single  ear,  for  every  kernel  has  its  in- 
dependent silk. 

2  The  jack  pine  has  taken  possession  of  certain  old  pine  lands  only  because 
it  has  the  habit  of  holding  its  cones  and  shedding  its  seeds  gradually.  If,  there- 
fore, the  tree  should  be  killed,  there  remains  a  stock  of  seed  for  renewal.  All 
other  species  are  exterminated  by  these  fierce  fires  till  the  ground  is  again 
reseeded  by  the  slow  processes  of  nature. 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD 


55 


Besides,  these  calamities  of  climate  and  season,  of  fire  and  flood, 
are  occasional  and  local  in  their  happening,  not  constant  and 
general,  so  that  in  a  large  sense  the  free  and  unrestricted  in- 
crease of  earth's  millions  is  thrown  upon  the  world  for  main- 
tenance, and  there  is  not  enough.     The  only  alternative  is  a 


Fig.  8.    In  a  fight  against  snow  and  cold  the  bison  can  hold  his  own 

wholesale  destruction  of  individuals  by  starvation,  in  which  the 
strongest  alone  survive. 

The  competition  for  food  is,  therefore,  the  chief  element  in 
the  struggle  for  existence.  There  is  no  common  food  supply 
for  all  species,  but  everything,  from  the  biggest  to  the  littlest, 
from  the  strongest  to  the  weakest,  lives  upon  its  neighbor,  and 
it  is  literally  true  that  the  chief  concern  of  each  inhabitant  of 
the  wild,  and  the  one  upon  which  he  bestows  most  of  his  time 
and  his  principal  attention,  is  to  secure  something  to  eat  and  to 
avoid,  in  return,  being  eaten  himself.  With  one  eye  on  his  prey 
and  the  other  on  his  enemy  he  balances  his  chances  and  gambles 


56  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

with  death  every  day  of  his  Ufe,  —  all  without  realizing  either 
the  magnitude  or  the  intensity  of  the  game  he  is  playing.^ 

The  big  fish  eat  the  little  ones  ;  the  wolf  and  the  jackal  hunt 
beast  and  bird  ;  the  feathered  tribe  makes  life  intolerable  for 
beetle,  bug,  and  worm ;  and  while  beak  and  tooth  and  claw  are 
busy  with  destruction,  the  parasite  sucks  the  blood  of  the  depre- 
dator or  gnaws  his  vitals  out  as  he  hunts  his  defenseless  prey. 
Nothing  is  exempt.  It  is  a  warfare  not  only  of  strength  and 
cunning  but  of  resistance  and  endurance  as  well. 

This  consumption  of  one  species  as  food  for  another  is  im- 
mensely destructive  of  individuals.  A  single  large  animal  in  a 
day  will  consume  seeds  or  small  plants  literally  by  the  thousand ; 
often,  besides,  it  destroys  as  much  as  it  eats.  It  is  estimated  that 
each  cat  on  the  average  destroys  fifty  birds  per  year.  One  large 
fish  will  consume  immense  numbers  of  small  fry.  Most  eggs  of 
birds  serve  as  food  for  snakes  or  other  t)irds.  Only  a  few  are 
hatched,  and  most  of  these  follow  the  fate  of  the  egg  in  which 
life  was  destroyed  before  it  appeared.^ 

Broadly  speaking,  and  in  general  terms,  animal  life  subsists 
upon  plant  life,  and  it  in  turn  upon  the  mass  of  nonliving  matter 
of  which  the  world  is  made,  so  that  the  two  together  complete 
a  kind  of  cycle,  ending  where  they  began,  after  the  animal  has 
finished  its  life  and  returned  to  dust.  It  will  not  do,  however, 
to  rest  so  important  a  matter  on  such  generalized  and  imperfect 
statements.    Briefly  and  substantially  the  facts  are  as  follows  : 

All  living  structures  ^  are  characterized  by  more  or  less  highly 
organized  compounds,  of  which  carbon,  oxygen,  and  nitrogen  are 

1  Man  is  undoubtedly  the  only  animal  that  has  any  true  knowledge  of  death, 
or  appreciation  of  it  when  it  has  occurred.  Wild  animals  attack  moving  things 
and  are  entirely  satisfied  with  simulated  death ;  that  is,  they  fight  whatever 
moves,  but  desist  when  motion  ceases  unless  impelled  by  hunger,  in  which  case 
they  do  not  wait  for  cessation  of  motion,  but  eat  the  prey  alive  or  as  soon  as  its 
escape  no  longer  seems  likely. 

2  It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  destruction  wrought  by  such  predatory 
animals  as  the  blue  jay,  the  kingbird,  the  hawk,  and  the  cat. 

'  By  this  is  meant  the  bodies  of  animals  and  the  stems  and  leaves  of  trees 
and  plants. 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD  57 

characteristic  and  essential  elements.  Now  the  world's  supply 
of  these  important  elements  is  in  the  form  of  exceedingly  raw 
material  floating  in  the  air.  Oxygen  can  be  taken  in  by  the  leaves 
of  plants  and  the  lungs  of  animals  and  used  at  once  and  directly 
by  the  organism.  Carbon  and  nitrogen,  however,  exist  in  the 
air  in  a  condition  useless  for  the  direct  needs  of  either  plants 
or  animals. 

The  great  problem  of  subsistence  is  therefore,  primarily,  to  get 
carbon  and  nitrogen,  which  all  animals  and  plants  alike,  whether 
large  or  small,  high  or  low,  must  secure  in  large  and  constant 
quantities  in  order  to  maintain  life  and  its  activities. 

Now  carbon  exists  in  combination  with  oxygen  as  COg.  This 
is  a  very  simple  but  a  very  stable  compound,  and  in  this  form  no 
animal  can  use  it.  Only  the  green  chlorophyll  of  leaves,  and  that 
in  the  presence  of  sunlight,  can  break  this  compact  with  oxygen, 
and  thus  the  pioneer  labor  of  securing  carbon  and  bringing  it 
into  more  complex  compounds,  especially  those  including  hydro- 
gen, is,  and  must  be,  performed  by  the  higher  plants  ;  and  on 
these  and  their  remains  must  all  animals  depend  for  their  carbon 
supply,  as  must  also  the  nonchlorophyll  plants  like  bacteria. 

Of  course  many  animals  live  on  other  animals  and  thus  short- 
circuit  the  carbon  problem,  just  as  many  bacteria  are  directly 
parasitic  on  living  plants  and  even  animals.  In  general,  plants 
and  animals  both  take  their  oxygen  direct  from  the  air,  but  a 
few  bacteria  and  other  low  forms  of  plant  life  depend  upon 
getting  oxygen  as  they  do  carbon,  —  by  taking  it  from  its  combi- 
nations, even  in  a  living  plant  or  animal.  Such  parasites  are,  of 
course,  dangerous  to  life,  and  they  lie  at  the  base  of  some  of  our 
most  troublesome  plant  and  animal  diseases. ^ 

Nitrogen  is  still  more  difficult  than  carbon  to  bring  into  the 
combined  state.    It  is  a  lazy  element,  and  the  immense  stock  in 

1  It  would  be  a  mistake  to  assume  that  all  diseases,  even  those  of  a  germ 
character,  are  due  to  vegetable  parasites.  It  is  now  generally  held  that  the 
germ  of  smallpox,  for  example,  is  a  protozoon,  that  is,  animal  rather  than 
vegetable,  though  at  this  level  of  life  we  are  down  where  plants  and  animals 
shade  into  each  other  by  almost  imperceptible  differences. 


58  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

the  atmosphere  is  useless  ahke  to  animals  and  plants  except  a 
very  few  species  of  bacteria  which  constitute,  so  far  as  we  know, 
the  only  means  for  collecting  available  nitrogen  except  the  slow 
and  irregular  action  of  electricity.^  In  this  way  all  life,  both  plant 
and  animal,  depends  almost  absolutely  for  its  nitrogen  upon 
bacteria,  the  smallest  of  all  organisms,  invisible  to  the  naked 
eye  and  so  exceedingly  minute  that  a  hundred  of  them  placed 
end  to  end  would  not  reach  through  the  thickness  of  this  sheet 
of  paper.  On  how  slender  a  thread  does  the  life  of  the  world 
depend ! 

Every  species,  therefore,  lives  wherever  it  can  find  suitable 
food,  and  does  not  hesitate  to  attack  another,  living  or  dead,  and 
consume  its  substance  either  by  the  rending  of  its  flesh  and 
the  consequent  quick  destruction  of  life,  by  sucking  its  juices 
as  an  external  parasite,  or  even  by  invading  the  very  body  of  its 
prey  and  consuming  its  vitals  with  slow  destruction.  This  is 
very  common  among  insects,  one  species  laying  its  egg  in  the 
body  of  another,  where  it  hatches,  producing  a  larva  that  lives 
at  the  expense  of  the  host  till  death  ensues,  by  which  time  he  is 
ready  to  undergo  one  of  his  transformations  and  afterwards 
'*go  it  alone."  2 

And  so  it  is  that  food  means  indiscriminate  slaughter  by  both 
sudden  and  lingering  methods,  so  it  is  that  the  struggle  for 
existence  is  chiefly- fought  out  at  this  point,  and  so  it  is  that  the 
food  supply  is  the  chief  consideration  in  fixing  the  prosperity  and 
the  life  tenure  not  only  of  individuals  but  of  species  as  a  whole. 

Competition  for  room.  This  is  no  less  real  than  is  competition 
for  food,  but  it  applies  to  plants  rather  than  to  animals,  which 
seldom  suffer  for  mere  space.  When,  however,  by  chance  plants 
come  up  too  thick  for  standing  room,  they  are  bound  to  suffer 

1  The  electric  spark  serves  to  combine  nitrogen  and  hydrogen  in  small 
amounts,  but  the  world's  supply  of  nitrogen  is  supposed  to  be  dependent  upon 
bacterial  action. 

2  It  is  common  for  wasps  to  sting  a  supply  of  insects,  paralyze  them,  plant 
an  egg  in  each,  and  pack  them  securely  away  to  serve  as  food  for  the  young 
larvae  as  they  hatch. 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD  59 

and  the  weakest  are  doomed.  Under  such  conditions  there  is, 
of  course,  a  competition  for  food  from  the  hmited  amount  of 
soil  at  hand,  as  there  is  also  for  moisture  in  time  of  drought ; 
but  the  chief  competition  is  for  sunlight. 

All  growth  in  weight  of  plants  is  attended  by  the  fixation  of 
carbon  from  the  carbon  dioxide  of  the  air,  but  the  process  is  a 
chemical  one  that  takes  place  only  in  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun. 
The  growth  of  plants  is  therefore  absolutely  dependent  upon 
their  leaves  being  constantly  exposed  to  direct  sunlight.  When, 
consequently,  individuals  are  closely  crowded  together,  only  the 
tallest  can  push  their  leaves  up  into  the  light,  while  the  others 
are  overshadowed  and  shut  away  from  the  only  power  that  can 
put  carbon  into  their  structure.  Accordingly  they  must  die,  not 
exactly  from  starvation  but  rather  from  inability  to  make  use 
of  the  plant  food  of  the  air. 

This  is  the  principal  way  in  which  tall,  quick-growing  weeds 
injure  crops  by  getting  the  start,  and,  being  able  to  keep  it,  they 
kill  the  crop  or  greatly  check  it  by  shutting  off  completely  or 
partially  the  direct  sunlight.  This  is  why  sweet  corn  and  Kafir 
corn  are  so  much  more  difficult  to  raise  than  is  Indian  corn, 
especially  in  the  moist  climate  of  the  so-called  corn  belt.  The 
plants  themselves  are  at  first  small  and  slow-growing,  while  the 
weeds  of  this  region  are  quick-growing  with  rank  stems  and 
broad  leaves,  which  quickly  overtop  and  shut  out  the  sunlight 
from  the  crop. 

The  same  effects  will  follow  the  attempts  to  get  a  "  stand  " 
of  alfalfa  unless  these  weeds  are  kept  cut  off.  The  young  alfalfa 
sends  up  at  first  but  a  slender  stem  with  few  leaves,  and  until 
the  root  is  well  established  it  is  no  match  for  rank  weeds  that 
reverse  the  process,  namely,  expend  their  first  energies  in  pro- 
ducing stem  and  leaf.  Indian  corn,  on  the  other  hand,  will, 
with  a  fair  chance,  grow  almost  as  fast  as  any  weed,  and  in  any 
event  always  "  keeps  its  head  up." 

We  take  advantage  of  this  principle  in  killing  especially 
troublesome  weeds  like  Canada  thistle  and  quack  grass,  which 


6o  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

have  the  underground  rootstock.  Everybody  knows  that  ordinary 
cutting  or  pulHng  avails  nothing,  for  they  merely  send  up  new 
shoots  from  the  buds  already  formed  in  the  running  rootstock 
under  ground.  If,  however,  this  new  shoot  and  leaf  are  killed 
by  cutting  off  at  once,  and  the  next  and  the  next  treated  in  the 
same  way  as  soon  as  they  appear,  the  plant  will  die  in  time,  for 
it  has  but  a  limited  number  of  "  buds"  and  a  limited  amount  of 
food  stored  in  the  stem ;  and  if  it  cannot  soon  get  new  leaves  to 
the  sun  for  more  carbon,  it  must  give  up  the  fight  and  die.  Plow- 
ing thoroughly  once  a  week  for  a  single  season  will  kill  any  weed. 

This  struggle  from  overcrowding  is  best  seen  in  the  growth 
of  young  trees  in  the  forest.  Many  more  seedlings  will  start 
than  can  possibly  live,  for  a  fully  matured  tree  needs  and  will 
take  a  space  from  ten  to  fifty  and  in  some  cases  even  one 
hundred  feet  across. 

Accordingly  when  young  trees  stand  thick  a  struggle  at  once 
ensues  as  to  which  shall  overtop  the  others  and  get  to  the  sun- 
light. The  strongest  will,  of  course,  be  the  tallest  and  get  the 
most  light.  This  in  turn  gives  it  more  carbon  and  greater 
growth,  with  still  further  advantage  over  its  fellows,  which 
manage  to  live  as  long  as  they  can  keep  a  few  leaves  in  the 
sunlight,  and  then  die  when  the  failure,  which  is  inevitable, 
really  comes. 

It  is  interesting  and  almost  pathetic  to  see  the  extent  to  which 
this  struggle  for  sunlight  and  life  is  sometimes  carried.  The 
writer  once  saw  a  specimen  that  had  recently  died  out  of  a 
thicket  of  young  maples.  It  was  thirty-six  feet  high,  yet  was 
but  one  and  three-fourths  inches  in  diameter  at  the  largest  place, 
so  completely  had  its  little  growth  been  converted  into  height 
at  the  expense  of  size  in  the  vain  effort  to  keep  its  few  leaves 
bathed  in  the  precious  sunlight.  This  tree  never  stood  quite 
alone,  but  leaned  helplessly  against  its  stronger  neighbors  after 
the  fashion  of  a  vine. 

Among  the  trees  that  remain,  the  same  principle  applies  as 
between  the  upper  and  the  lower  limbs.   As  new  branches  start 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD 


6l 


out  above  in  the  struggle  upward,  the  lower  ones  are  shaded 
the  same  as  those  of  the  lower- growing  trees,  and  ultimately  for 
the  same  reason  die  and  drop  off.  In  this  way  trees  growing 
in  close  proximity  to  each  other 
develop  tall  bare  trunks  valu- 
able for  timber,  while  those 
growing  in  the  open  would  not 
be  forced  upward  by  competi- 
tion nor  would  the  lower  limbs 
be  killed.  Such  trees  develop 
beautiful  tops,  being  lighted  on 
all  sides,  but  they  never  make 
timber  trees,  however  old  or 
mature.  1 

Competition  most  severe  be- 
tween individuals  of  the  same 
species.  At  first  thought  it  would 
seem  that  members  of  the  same 
race  would  live  in  peace  and 
harmony  together,  and  that  the 
competition  would  be  between 
different  species  only.  But  that 
is  not  so.  In  so  far  as  compe- 
tition exists  at  all  between  indi- 
viduals of  the  same  race  it  is 
the  most  severe  of  all. 

In  the  competition  for  food, 
whether  plant  or  animal,  the 
needs  of  the  same  species  are 
identical,  the  methods  of  growth  in  plants  and  the  hunting 
habits  among  animals  are  the  same,  and  the  competition  is 
much  more  direct  than  where  needs  are  not  quite  the  same 
and  habits  are  somewhat  different. 

1  It  is  suggested  that  the  student  verify  the  foregoing  statements  by  visits 
to  weedy  fields  and  to  young  forests. 


Fig.  9.  The  best  possible  condition 
for  rapid  growth,  as  it  affords  oppor- 
tunity for  maximum  exposure  of  leaf 
surface.  This  grapevine  consumed 
four  years  in  covering  the  first  ten 
feet  of  the  derrick,  but  with  this 
start  it  ascended  the  remaining  forty 
feet  in  one  year 


62  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

In  respect  to  room  the  same  principle  holds.  Plants  of  the 
same  species  have  a  nearly  equal  rate  of  growth,  so  it  is  a  neck- 
and-neck  race  from  start  to  finish,  and  often  the  struggle  is  so 
nearly  equal  that  they  all  go  down  together.  It  is  the  case  of 
Greek  meeting  Greek  over  again. 

The  best  example  of  this  is  the  familiar  one  of  overseeding. 
Ofttimes  the  farmer  in  finishing  his  seeding  of  oats  or  wheat 
will  drive  across  the  end  of  the  field  to  cover  unseeded  spots. 
In  this  way  much  of  the  strip  thus  covered  gets  a  double  seed- 
ing. The  slender,  "  spindling  "  growth  of  leaf  or  stem  and  the 
greatly  reduced  yield  of  such  places  are  familiar  to  all  grain 
farmers,  as  is  the  general  appearance  of  most  fields  of  "  sowed 
corn,"  where  so  much  seed  is  put  on  that  there  is  neither  room, 
moisture,  nor  fertility  to  mature  it  all,  so  the  total  result  is  a 
weak,  stunted  growth  of  all  the  plants,  engaged  as  they  are  in 
a  mutually  destructive  competition. 

The  fact  that  a  heavier  yield  of  hay  and  pasture  can  be  pro- 
duced by  ground  sown  to  mixed  grasses  than  when  sown  en- 
tirely to  one  variety  depends  partly  upon  the  principle  here 
under  discussion,  and  partly,  especially  with  pastures,  upon 
the  fact  that  different  species  take  on  their  best  growth  at  dif- 
ferent seasons  of  the  year,  thus  lessening  by  that  much  the 
direct  competition. 

The  fiercest  battles  among  animals  are  not  those  waged  for 
food,  which  are  for  the  most  part  exceedingly  unequal  conflicts. 
They  are  those  waged  between  the  males  of  the  same  species, 
which  are  in  almost  constant  conflict,  especially  during  the 
breeding  season,  those  of  different  species  rarely  troubling  each 
other  except  for  food. 

Among  animals  that  herd  in  the  wild,  like  horses,  cattle,  and 
bisons,  one  mature  male  in  the  prime  of  life  assumes  the  leader- 
ship of  the  herd,  and  he  will  maintain  it  as  long  as  he  can 
master  any  younger  aspirant  that  feels  he  has  attained  the 
strength  and  endurance  to  try  conclusions.  Some  day  the  success- 
ful aspirant  will  arise  and  prevail  over  the  favorite,  who  will  then 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD  63 

retire  to  the  rear,  and  the  herd  will  accept  the  new  leadership. 
In  this  way  only  the  very  choicest  and  most  vigorous  survive 
to  head  the  herd. 

Natural  selection.  And  so  the  competition  goes  on  against 
fire  and  flood  and  drought  and  cold  ;  against  talon,  tooth,  and 
claw,  till  the  weakling  goes  to  the  wall.  When  there  is  not 
enough  for  all,  when  the  dinner  of  one  means  the  death  of 
another,  when  the  problems  of  life  become  reduced  to  the 
elemental  instincts  of  hunger  and  self-preservation,  then 
slaughter  begins  and  death  and  extermination  are  everyday 
employments.  This  is  natural  selection,  or  the  weeding  out  of 
the  weakest. 

This  reduction  process  of  nature  is  not  always  attended  with 
violence  and  bloodshed,  but  is  often  silent  and  inconspicuous 
though  none  the  less  relentless.  The  woodpecker  digs  his  worm 
out  of  his  burrow  in  the  timber,  and  only  the  longest  and  hardest 
bill  will  provide  enough  when  worms  are  scarce.  This  compe- 
tition based  on  quality  of  bills  is  not  conspicuous,  but  it  is,  after 
all,  direct  and  effective. 

A  mass  of  vegetation  of  many  species  is  growing  on  the 
same  area.^  As  none  can  move  they  all  must  stay  and  fight 
it  out  together.  Now  is  the  struggle  for  room  combined  with 
that  for  food,  and  it  is  a  battle  royal  with  no  noise  but  with 
plenty  of  fatalities.^ 

In  this  selective  process  the  vigor  of  the  conflict  and  the 
intensity  of  the  selection  are  much  dependent  upon  conditions, 
whether  favorable  or  unfavorable  to  life  in  general.  It  might 
seem  at  first  that  where  conditions  of  life  are  least  favorable, 

1  Try  the  experiment  of  counting  the  number  of  different  things  that  can 
be  found  growing  together  on  a  square  yard  of  old  turf. 

2  Read  "  The  Battle  in  the  Meadows,"  by  Maxwell  T.  Masters.  This  fasci- 
nating little  book  describes  the  effect  upon  the  mixed  herbage  of  an  old  park 
at  Rothamsted,  England,  when  fertilizers  of  different  kinds  were  applied.  The 
effect  of  each  upon  the  struggle  between  the  different  species  growing 
together,  some  being  favored  by  nitrogen,  for  example,  and  others  by  potas- 
sium or  by  phosphorus,  constitutes  one  of  the  most  fascinating  nature  stories 
ever  written. 


64  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

the  reduction  would  proceed  furthest,  but,  in  general,  such  is 
not  the  case. 

For  example,  many  more  species  of  plants  will  grow  together 
on  poor  land  than  on  rich,  and  if  fertilizer  be  applied  to  such  a 
spot  supporting  a  feeble  growth  of  many  species,  their  number 
will  be  at  once  reduced. 

The  reason  of  it  is  that  under  generally  hard  conditions  noth- 
ing succeeds  well  enough  to  institute  a  vigorous  fight,  but  as 
soon  as  conditions  are  improved,  as  by  the  addition  of  fertilizer, 
then  at  once  some  species  will  succeed  so  well  as  to  crowd  others 
down  and  possibly  out.  This  is  one  test  of  the  natural  fertility 
of  lands,  namely,  the  number  of  species  found  growing  together 
upon  it  in  a  state  of  nature ;  and  the  same  principle  is  employed 
by  good  farmers  who  make  the  land  so  rich  that  the  crop  will 
choke  out  the  weeds. ^ 

Survival  of  the  fittest.  The  result  of  natural  selection  is  the 
survival  of  the  fittest.  This  does  not  mean  the  best  from  any 
standpoint  of  ours,  but  it  does  mean  the  ones  that  fit  best  into 
all  the  conditions  that  determine  the  issue  of  the  struggle.^  It 
would  be  the  woodpecker  with  the  longest  and  hardest  bill,  the 
wolf  with  the  best  scent  and  the  highest  speed,  the  bull  with 
the  sharpest  horn  and  the  strongest  neck  ;  indeed,  among  savage 
animals  it  means  the  supremacy  of  the  longest  tooth  and  the 
sharpest  claw. 

Among  the  hunted  it  means  the  horse  with  the  fleetest  foot 
and  the  greatest  endurance.    It  means  the  deer  or  moose  with 

1  This  principle  also  explains  the  relative  inaction  of  the  desperately  poor 
and  distressed  portion  of  the  degenerate  class.  If  they  were  better  fed,  they 
would  be  more  aggressive  and  consequently  more  dangerous.  So  does  natural 
selection  work  among  humans  as  elsewhere. 

2  For  example,  a  savage  and  a  sage  may  be  so  situated  that  skillful  running 
alone  will  save  life.  Then  for  that  purpose  running  becomes  the  test  of  sur- 
vival, and  the  savage  alone  may  be  able  to  meet  the  test,  in  which  case  his  is 
the  best  "  fit "  with  the  conditions.  Under  most  conditions,  however,  the  sage 
would  have  the  advantage.  All  this  means  that  the  best  trained  man  is  the 
one  that  is  able  to  meet  and  fit  into  the  greatest  variety  of  conditions  that  are 
likely  to  come  his  way. 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD  65 

the  most  inconspicuous  color.  For  example,  the  white  color  of 
the  albino  deer,  shown  on  page  102,  would  be  against  him,  as  it 
would  be  in  favor  of  the  polar  bear  with  his  different  surround- 
ings. It  means  the  bird  or  beast  most  successful  in  hiding  or 
in  eluding  its  pursuers,  and  everything  which  helps  in  this  will 
help  to  make  the  "  fit "  more  perfect  and  thereby  to  more 
certainly  insure  survival. 

With  plants  it  means  the  fastest-growing  stem  which  will 
most  certainly  reach  the  sun,  or  the  deepest-running  root  which 
alone  will  secure  moisture  in  time  of  drought ;  it  means  the  most 
spiny  covering  which  protects  best  against  herbivorous  animals, 
the  most  showy  flowers  or  the  most  penetrating  odors  which  best 
assure  fertilization,  or  the  most  toothsome  and  conspicuous  seeds 
which  best  attract  bird  or  squirrel  to  carry  off  and  bury,  some 
portion  of  which  is  never  recovered.  These  are  the  circum- 
stances that  determine  the  fitness  to  survive. 

On  careful  study  it  will  be  seen  that  every  species  has  some 
natural  trait  or  character,  which,  in  a  state  of  nature,  enabled 
it  to  survive,  else  it  would  not  be  here  now ;  and  of  this 
species  the  individuals  that  possess  this  character  in  the  great- 
est perfection  are  the  ones  that  best  withstand  the  rigors  of 
natural  selection.  Species  and  individuals  not  possessing  such 
natural  advantages  at  once  become  extinct,  as  do  those  whose 
advantage  is  rendered  worthless  by  some  sudden  change  in 
the  surroundings. 

For  example,  the  natural  advantage  of  the  birds  generally  is 
their  aerial  flight  and  their  powers  of  rapid  reproduction ;  with 
the  yellow  butterfly  it  is  his  offensive  taste  ;  with  the  caterpillar 
it  is  his  hairy  covering,  which,  like  the  spines  of  the  porcupine, 
are  unpleasant  to  the  attacking  party ;  with  the  cat  tribe  it  is 
the  prehensible  claw  and  the  silent  tread  ;  with  the  antelope  it 
is  his  wonderful  scent  and  his  fleetness  ;  with  the  pig.it  is  his 
long  snout  with  its  remarkable  rooter ;  with  the  elephant  it  is 
his  trunk  ;  with  the  beaver  it  is  his  tooth  and  his  tail ;  with  the 
snake  it  is  his  venom  and  his  incurving  teeth ;  with  the  sheep, 


66  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

bighorn,  and  chamois  it  is  the  abihty  to  climb  where  only  the 
eagles  can  follow,  and  to  take  flying  leaps  from  crag  to  crag. 

All  species  and  individuals  not  possessed  of  some  such  natural 
advantage,  or  with  whom  the  advantage  has  been  rendered  worth- 
less, go  down  early  in  the  struggle.  Of  course  such  great  natural 
calamities  as  fire  and  flood,  making  wholesale  destruction,  take 
everything  both  good  and  bad,  fit  as  well  as  unfit.  Such  events 
come  so  infrequently  and  so  suddenly  that  nothing  can  meet 
their  exactions. 

The  fate  of  species,  however,  is  not  settled  by  these  sudden 
and  calamitous  events  except  in  rare  cases  and  for  certain 
localities.^  This  fate  is  settled  by  the  slow  and  relentless  method 
we  have  described,  in  which  literally  thousands  of  every  species 
undertake  to  supply  the  cravings  of  hunger  and  the  needs  of 
life  to  the  best  of  their  ability,  but  go  down  in  the  struggle  to 
defeat  and  death,  while  others  carry  on  the  struggle  with  occa- 
sional success.    These  alone  count  in  the  line  of  descent. 

The  individual  and  the  race.  It  is,  indeed,  a  savage  picture 
that  we  draw  when  we  attempt  to  depict  nature  at  work  in  her 
workshop  with  living  beings  for  her  tools  and  her  materials. 
Everything  is  relentlessly  pursuing  its  own  advantage  and  spend- 
ing its  time  in  killing  and  eating  or  in  being  eaten  in  turn  as  it 
surrenders  to  the  inevitable, — a  savage  tearing  mass  of  animated 
matter  spurred  on  by  instincts  not  understood  and  by  impulses 
incapable  of  comprehension,  the  end  of  which  sooner  or  later, 
whether  successful  or  unsuccessful  in  the  struggle,  is  death. 

Looked  at  in  this  large  way,  life  at  best  is  but  a  doleful  picture, 
for,  as  some  one  has  remarked,  the  life  of  every  animal  in  the 
wild  is  a  constant  terror  and  its  end  a  tragedy.    The  pathos  of 

1  It  is  more  than  likely  that  such  sweeping  changes  as  the  glacial  epoch  do 
operate  to  exterminate  species  at  wholesale  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  Instances 
are  not  wanting  where  species  have  been  stranded  by  the  retreating  glacier, 
such  as  the  wild  primrose  on  Mount  Washington  and  on  the  north  side  of  a 
single  ledge  in  southern  Michigan.  Many  species,  too,  were  swept  off  as  the 
glacier  advanced,  and  were  unable  to  return  with  its  retreat,  as  in  England, 
which  has  a  much  simpler  flora  than  has  France,  just  across  the  Channel.     • 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD 


67 


this  fruitless  struggle  of  millions  as  they  stem  the  tide  with  diffi- 
culty for  a  moment,  then  join  the  inevitable  stream  of  death,  and 
the  apparent  heartlessness  of  it  all,  lead  us  sometimes  to  question 
the  plan  and  to  wonder  if,  after  all,  life  is  worth  the  living. 

This  is  a  gloomy  view,  however,  to  take  of  life,  whether 
animal,  plant,  or  human.  There  is  another  and  a  brighter  picture, 
if  only  we  will  clear  our  vision  to  its  perception. 

Existence  is  a  great  mystery.  The  individual  is  but  a  unit  in 
a  gigantic  plan  —  a  never-ending,  always-changing  panorama 
of  life.  As  Shakespeare  says,  "All  the  world  's  a  stage,  and  all 
the  men  and  women  merely  players."  Each  acts  his  part  and 
says  his  lines,  then  passes  off,  giving  place  to  another,  that  the 
great  drama  may  proceed  and  the  whole  picture  be  presented. 
The  individual,  therefore,  is  fleeting,  but  his  race  goes  on  forever, 
or  as  long  as  the  balance  of  life  is  in  its  favor ;  and  one  of  the 
duties  of  the  individual  is  to  help  preserve  that  balance,  which 
he  often  does  by  surrendering  his  life.^ 

Among  the  lower  species  the  grade  of  intelligence  does  not 
enable  the  individual  to  see  the  plan  or  even  to  know  the  issues, 
much  less  to  anticipate  its  fate.^  Accordingly  it  derives  its  en- 
joyment day  by  day  in  living  its  life,  seeking  its  food,  and 
rearing  its  young  as  if  it  were  to  live  forever,  and  when  the  un- 
consciously approaching  end  comes  —  a  brief  struggle,  lasting 
but  a  moment,  and  all  is  over.  So  nature  is,  after  all,  happy,  for 
the  tragedies  of  life  are  mostly  unknown  in  advance,  they  pass 
quickly  when  they  come,  and  are  soon  softened  if  not  forgotten. 

If  only  the  fittest  survive,  then  will  the  next  generation  be 
bom  of  highly  selected  parents,  and  so  will  the  race  progress. 
This  is  evolution  ;  and  whatever  the  place  of  the  individual  in 
the  scheme,  the  race  as  a  whole  is  bound  to  advance.    Though 

1  In  the  time  of  war  men  do  not  count  their  Hves  in  the  struggle  to  preserve 
the  nation  or  to  repel  invaders,  any  more  than  they  have  counted  the  cost  of 
human  liberty. 

2  As  has  been  remarked  already,  the  animal  has  no  knowledge  of  death  or 
of  the  meaning  of  life.  Man  is  probably  the  only  one  that  has  the  slightest 
intimation  that  life  is  limited. 


68  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

the  plan  seems  heartless,  it  is,  after  all,  beneficent,  when  we 
regard  the  future  and  the  coming  generations  as  well  as  the 
present  and  the  individuals. 

So  there  is  another  and  a  brighter  picture.  We  humans  have 
been  given  a  larger  view  of  life  than  have  the  animals  about  us, 
and  while  we  cannot  comprehend  all  the  plan,  we  cheerfully 
devote  our  lives  not  solely  to  our  own  enjoyment  but  also  to 
that  larger  service  to  mankind  in  general,  to  the  end  that  future 
generations  may  be  the  happier  because  of  our  having  lived. 
Just  as  we  are  realizing  the  advantages  of  what  our  forefathers 
did  for  the  world  before  us,  so  we  make  our  contribution  for 
the  benefit  of  those  that  shall  come  after  us. 

It  is  for  us,  therefore,  to  recognize  the  fact  of  this  great  war- 
fare in  nature,  and  in  man's  affairs  as  well,  without  permitting 
it  to  embitter  life  ;  and  to  order  our  own  lives  and  their  activities 
to  the  advantage  of  the  common  good,  getting  our  satisfaction 
day  by  day  as  we  go  along  in  the  consciousness  of  faculties  well 
employed,  thankful  after  all  for  the  opportunity  to  live,  to  enjoy 
the  world,  to  contribute  our  share  to  the  great  upward  struggle 
of  the  race,  and  to  act  our  part  and  say  our  lines  in  the  great 
drama  of  existence,  all  of  which  is  a  part  of  the  divine  plan, 
too  large  for  our  comprehension,  just  as  the  stars  are  too  many 
and  too  far  away,  and  the  universe  too  vast  and  too  complicated, 
for  our  understanding.^ 

In  proportion  as  we  see  the  distinction  between  the  in- 
dividual and  the  race,  in  that  proportion  will  we  understand 
the  true  meaning  of  the  ''great  debt  to  nature,"  and  we  will 
come  to  appreciate  that  the  principle,  "  to  him  that  hath  shall 
be  given,"  is  not  so  much  for  personal  benefit  as  for  the 
general  good. 

1  This  digression  is  made  for  the  reason  that  many,  especially  young  people, 
not  knowing  thoroughly  the  field  of  evolution  but  stumbling  upon  a  portion 
of  it  by  accident,  are  led  to  gloomy,  short-sighted,  and  morbid  views  of  life. 
It  is  hoped  that  as  the  subject  is  further  pursued,  the  discussion  may  make 
clear  many  of  the  points  which  trouble  the  minds  of  many  people  often 
through  life. 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD  69 

Significance  of  numbers.  In  so  far  as  natural  selection  is  a 
contest  between  different  species  the  question  of  relative  numbers 
is  an  important  one,  because  the  hazard  of  a  good  "  fit  "  is  greatly 
reduced  with  increasing  numbers.  Rare  and  slow-multiplying 
species  not  only  run  the  chance  of  few  good  fits  with  the  environ- 
ment, but  they  recover  slowly  after  disastrous  experiences. 

The  stronghold  of  insect  life  is  their  rapid  reproduction.  A 
succession  of  adverse  seasons  may  seem  to  have  almost,  if  not 
quite,  exterminated  some  troublesome  species,  but  a  few  espe- 
cially hardy  and  resistant  individuals  manage  to  live  over,  and, 
with  their  rapid  breeding  powers,  soon  produce  a  new  stock  even 
more  vigorous  than  before.  This  is  improvement  by  natural 
selection.  In  this  way  adversity  is  good  for  the  species,  — 
though  fatal  to  most  individuals,  —  and,  providing  only  enough 
can  live  through  to  restock  the  region,  the  species  will  be  rapidly 
modified  by  the  selective  process. 

When  it  is  a  troublesome  insect  or  weed  that  is  involved,  we 
are  not  interested  in  its  prosperity,  but  the  same  principle  applies 
to  valuable  species  even  in  domestication.  For  example,  it  is 
the  pigs  that  produce  large  litters  whose  descendants  finally 
constitute  the  herd,  while  some  favorite  may,  from  sheer  lack  of 
breeding  powers,^  leave  nothing  behind. 

The  perfectly  wholesale  production  of  seed  by  plants  in  gen- 
eral is,  to  a  considerable  extent,  an  offset  against  their  natural 
disadvantage  in  being  fixed  as  to  habitat  and  unable  to  move 
away  from  undesirable  conditions  to  find  better  ones. 

Significance  of  vigor  and  length  of  life.  This  is  of  even  more 
importance  to  the  race  than  is  rapid  reproduction.  The  experi- 
ences of  life  make  the  mature  individual  of  higher  usefulness 
than  the  younger,  especially  with  races  in  w^hich  the  young  are 
cared  for  and  to  some  extent  trained  by  the  parents. 

1  Farmers  often  fail  to  notice  the  operation  of  this  principle,  and  keep  many 
breeding  animals  because  they  are  favorites  in  form  or  have  fine  pedigrees, 
when  they  are  doing  practically  nothing  as  breeders.  The  herd  will  of  course 
consist  of  the  descendants  of  prolific  breeders,  which  alone  can  produce 
numbers  sufficient  to  afford  material  for  good  selection. 


70 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


If  the  great  problem  in  existence  is  the  perpetuation  of  the 
species,  then  the  individual  helps  the  object  forward  in  either 
one  of  two  ways,  —  by  reproduction  to  insure  new  numbers,  or 
by  improving  conditions  of  life,  thus  reducing  selection  and 
lengthening  existence. 

The  number  of  any  race  at  any  given  time,  therefore,  is  quite 
as  much  dependent  upon  the  length  of  life  as  it  is  upon  the  rate 
of  reproduction  ;  ^  indeed,  many  disappearing  races  of  men  are 
slowly  failing  in  the  face  of  rapid  reproduction  because  the  in- 
dividuals are  not  well  enough  conditioned  to  attain  full  and  ripe 
maturity  and  establish  and  maintain  good  conditions  of  life. 

This  principle  is  of  special  application  in  the  breeding  yards. 
Suppose,  for  example,  the  farmer  has  three  classes  of  cows  of 
different  degrees  of  fertility,  —  one  that  will  raise  but  two  calves, 
one  that  will  raise  four,  and  one  that  will  raise  six,  before  they 
die  or  stop  breeding ;  and  suppose,  for  sake  of  the  illustration, 
that  the  descendants  will  do  the  same  respectively.  Remem- 
bering now  that  only  half  the  descendants  will  be  females,  let 
us  see  how  the  account  would  stand  with  these  three  classes 
of  cows  and  their  descendants,  say,  at  the  end  of  the  fifth 
generation  .2 

The  Meaning  of  Relative  Fertility 


Classes 

Female 
offspring 

Generations 

First 

Second 

Third           Fourth 

Fifth 

First    

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

Second    .     .     . 

2 

2 

4 

8 

16 

32 

Third  .... 

3 

3 

9 

27 

81 

243 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  cows  of  the  third  class  and  their  de- 
scendants would  not  only  soon  constitute  the  herd  but  afford 
abundant  material  for  selection  in  the  meantime.    It  is  so  with 


1  Race  suicide  that  is  now  so  much  talked  about  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of 
the  size  of  families  as  is  commonly  supposed  ;  it  is  quite  as  much  involved  in 
the  matter  of  health  and  long  life.         2  gge  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  p.  199. 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD  7 1 

wild  species ;  the  new  generations  and,  in  the  end,  the  stable 
stock  is  constantly  arising,  not  from  the  general  mass,  but 
from  a  few  exceptional  family  lines  of  great  vigor,  long  life, 
and  fair  fecundity.^ 

Significance  of  offensive  and  defensive  weapons.  It  has  been 
remarked  before  that  man  is  the  only  animal  able  to  use  weapons 
other  than  those  with  which  nature  endowed  him.  Some  of 
these  natural  endowments  are,  however,  remarkable  both  in 
their  character  and  their  usefulness. 

It  is  natural  for  any  intelligent  being  to  make  use  of  any  part 
that  will  help  either  in  defending  himself  from  his  enemies  or 
in  assisting  him  in  taking  his  food.  In  this  essential  business 
some  make  use  of  one  part,  others  of  other  parts. 

In  general,  the  extremities  are  likely  to  be  covered  with  hard 
and  often  more  or  less  sharp  or  cutting  parts.  If  so,  they  are 
exceedingly  useful  to  the  possessor  as  means  of  inflicting  injury 
by  blows,  puncture,  or  tearing.  Horns,  hoofs,  teeth,  and  toe- 
nails are  mighty  weapons  on  the  earth,  and  when  the  same 
species  happens  to  have  two  or  three  of  these  natural  weapons 
well  developed  at  the  same  time,  he  is  a  formidable  enemy.  A 
notable  instance  is  found  in  the  tiger  and  the  cat  family  generally. 
The  grizzly  bear  has  both  tooth  and  claw  terribly  developed,  but 
his  claws  are  not  retractable,  and  he  is  incapable  of  the  stealth 
of  the  tiger.2 

Not  all  species  are  armed  with  such  terrible  weapons,  though 
every  one  has  some  advantage  sufficient  to  enable  it  to  secure 

1  It  is  so  with  people.  Comparatively  few  individuals  alive  now  will  be  in 
any  way  represented  in  the  blood  lines  that  people  the  world  five  hundred  or 
even  one  hundred  years  from  now.  The  people  then  living  will  trace  their 
ancestry  to  a  few  of  the  most  vigorous  and  virile,  but  not  necessarily  the  most 
prolific,  of  existing  families.  The  future  of  the  human  as  well  as  other  species 
depends  quite  as  much  upon  quality  and  longevity  as  upon  numbers. 

2  Enthusiastic  amateur  students  of  natural  history  often  descant  upon  the 
beneficence  of  nature  in  thus  providing  her  children  with  certain  means  of 
getting  food,  forgetting,  it  must  be,  the  interests  of  the  victim  and  assuming 
a  partiality  between  the  species  that  does  not  exist.  Nothing  was  made  es- 
pecially to  be  eaten,  nor  are  all  the  favors  bestowed  on  a  few  species  (see  a 
later  paragraph  on  Design  in  nature). 


72  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

its  food,  else  it  would  not  have  persisted  ;  and  species  not  so 
endowed,  of  which  there  have  been  many,  have  long  since 
disappeared  from  the  earth.  It  is  only  when  the  food  is  alive 
and  able  to  fight  or  run  that  weapons  of  offense  are  useful 
except  to  rival  males  in  battle.  Herbivorous  animals,  like  cattle, 
and  vegetarians  generally  do  not  need  weapons  of  offense  and 
commonly  do  not  possess  them,  though  there  are  abundant 
exceptions. 

The  ostrich,  for  example,  has  no  need  of  weapons  of  offense 
and  its  great  speed  constitutes  sufficient  defense  ;  yet  it  can  use 
its  strong  leg  to  advantage  as  a  weapon  in  striking.  The  giraffe 
is  without  weapons,  offensive  or  defensive,  and  cannot  exist  in 
the  presence  of  enemies  except  those  he  can  outrun.  The  ele- 
phant's trunk  is  primarily  useful  as  a  feeder,  but  he  uses  it  upon 
occasion  as  a  weapon  of  terrible  execution. 

For  the  most  part  the  snake  has  no  weapon  but  his  teeth. 
Some  paralyze  by  venom,  but  most  of  them  are  comparatively 
helpless,  having  no  extremities  but  a  harmless  head  and  a  use- 
less tail.  If,  as  in  most  cases,  they  are  armed  with  incurving 
teeth,  the  victim  once  caught  cannot  well  get  away ;  but  in  gen- 
eral the  snake  must  swallow  the  prey  alive  or  kill  it  in  the  only 
way  possible,  namely,  by  crushing  with  its  own  body,  —  a  most 
awkward  but  terribly  effective  way  of  getting  on. 

A  few  animals  like  the  skunk  are  able  to  discharge  an  offen- 
sive secretion  to  a  considerable  distance  and  thus  manage  to 
secure  a  pretty  wide  berth.  Others,  like  the  hyena, ^  can  dis- 
charge a  liquid  not  particularly  offensive  but  directed  with  con- 
siderable accuracy  and  disconcerting  effect. 

A  few  lucky  fellows  like  the  hedgehog,  whose  custom  it  is  to 
let  others  alone,  are  so  provided  that  they  can  roll  themselves 
into  a  ball  and  defy  the  world.  Others,  like  the  squirrel,  not 
so  endowed  must  show  a  clean  pair  of  heels. 

1  Said  to  be  the  only  animal  that  hates  everything  and  everybody,  itself 
included.  Practically  incapable  of  taming,  ft  never  forms  friends  among  either 
animals  or  attendants. 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD  73 

Some  utterly  useless  species  are  well  protected.  The  miser- 
able little  grass,  Danthonia  spicata,  that  grows  freely  over  New 
England  hills  is  thickly  studded  at  the  base  of  the  stem  with 
short  but  sharp  hairy  spines  that  cattle  avoid.  The  nettle  is 
covered  with  fine  needlelike  hairs  which  on  contact  discharge 
minute  bits  of  acid  capable  of  giving  a  burning  sensation  to 
people  and  thin-skinned  offenders,  but  useless  with  most  wild 
animals.    The  thistle,  however,  has  a  weapon  worth  while. 

Speaking  generally,  weapons  of  offense  or  defense,  especially 
the  former,  are  good  things  to  have,  and  when  present  are  gen- 
erally made  the  most  of ;  but  when  absent  another  way  is  sought, 
and  if  one  good  enough  is  found,  the  species  can  be  successfully 
preserved  without  weapons,  as  is  the  case  with  the  antelope  and 
deer,  which  are  the  gentlest  of  animals. 

It  is  notable,  however,  that  the  character  or  part  on  which 
the  species  depends  most  for  its  existence  is  most  highly  de- 
veloped, even  though  in  other  respects  the  animal  or  plant  may 
be  very  defective.  This,  of  course,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
effects  of  natural  selection  have  been  long  felt  in  that  particular 
part,  while  others  have  been  neglected  and  left  undeveloped.  In 
this  connection  compare  the  remarkably  efficient  trunk  of  the 
elephant  with  his  exceedingly  awkward  feet,  which  belong  not 
to  this  but  to  prehistoric  times,  and  have  remained  practically 
undeveloped  and  unchanged  since  the  earliest  ages. 

Space  could  be  filled  indefinitely  with  this  vast  and  most  in- 
teresting phase  of  the  subject.  The  important  point  is,  however, 
to  note  the  fact  that  while  weapons  are  convenient  they  are  not 
indispensable,  and  that  some  species  that  have  the  least  use  for 
them  have  some  of  the  best  ones, — bees,  for  example, — though 
whether  in  remote  times  they  may  have  been  more  useful  we 
can  hardly  say  with  confidence,  because  sometimes  a  sudden 
change  in  the  surroundings  renders  useless  a  part  that  before 
was  next  to  indispensable.  Fig.  10  represents  a  tropical  butter- 
fly that  spends  much  of  its  time  on  stakes  and  stubs  where  it  is 
practically  indistinguishable  from  the  lichens,  especially  as  it  has 


74 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


the  habit  of  resting  with  its  wings  spread  flat  and  not  folded 
back,  as  is  characteristic  of  most  species  of  the  butterfly. 

Significance  of  protective  coloring  and  markings.  Quite  akin 
to  the  utiUty  of  weapons  is  the  whole  matter  of  protective  color- 
ing. By  this  is  meant  in  general  that  color  or  an  assemblage 
of  colors  which  so  blends  with  the  surroundings  as  to  make 
creatures  inconspicuous  on  the  one  hand,  or,  on  the  other,  to 
look  like  something  which  they  are  not,  as,  for  example,  when 
an  insect  or  animal  is  colored  similar  to  the  ground  or  the  foli- 
age it  inhabits,  or  when  it  looks  like  another  species  that  is 


Fig.  io.    Lower  and  upper  surface  respectively  of  Ageronia  feronia  (author's 
specimen) ;  general  color,  a  greenish  gray 

commonly  dreaded  and  avoided.  Such  utility  is  mainly  defen- 
sive, though  on  occasion  it  might  facilitate  the  approach  of  an 
animal  upon  its  prey. 

At  close  range  the  high  colors  —  red,  green,  blue,  etc. — stand 
out  distinctly,  but  in  the  distance  all  colors  tend  to  blend  into  a 
theoretical  white,  in  fact,  a  dirty  gray,  as  may  be  noted  when 
viewing  a  distant  scene  where  the  earth  and  sky  line  meet 
almost  imperceptibly.^  Artists  know  this  fact  and  use  the  grays 
for  distant  effects  except  when  under  strong  sunlight. 

This  explains  why  so  many  animals  that  live  more  or  less  in 
the  open  are  of  a  dirty  brown  or  gray  color.    Of  all  shades  it  is 


1  On  the  principle  that  all  colors  taken  together  make  white.    In  nature  all 
colors  do  not  exist  in  proper  proportions  and  the  general  result  is  a  gray. 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD  75 

most  inconspicuous  in  the  greatest  variety  of  surroundings.^ 
Thus  deer  and  moose  feed  in  safety  both  in  winter  and  summer 
where  they  would  be  in  far  more  danger  if  their  coats  were  red 
or  black  ;  indeed,  adaptation  has  gone  so  far  in  these  animals 
that  the  coat  is  lighter  in  winter  than  in  summer,  and  thus 
blends  still  better  as  the  foliage  gives  place  to  snow. 

The  most  highly  colored  birds  are  those  that  live  among  the 
foliage  and  flowers  of  the  tropics.  Snakes  and  lizards  closely 
imitate  the  dull  colors  of  the  grounds  they  infest,  and  while 
the  resemblance  is  not  close,  it  is  more  effective  than  would  at 
first  seem  possible.  Many  insects  are  as  green  as  the  leaves 
they  sit  upon,  often  for  no  other  reason  than  that  the  green 
chlorophyll  from  the  leaves  they  have  eaten  shows  through 
the  thin  texture  of  their  bodies.  Others,  like  these  shown  in 
Fig.  I  o,  are  variously  colored  in  close  resemblance  to  their  most 
frequent  habitat. 

Mimicry.  Closely  akin  to  protective  coloring  is  mimicry ; 
indeed,  mimicry  is  the  idea  of  protection  carried  a  step  further, 
in  which  the  resemblance  is  not  so  much  to  the  background  as 
to  some  other  specific  object. 

On  the  border  line  of  the  two  is  the  peculiar  marking  of  the 
zebra,  the  tiger,  and  the  leopard,  which  at  first  thought  would 
seem  to  make  them  conspicuous.  However,  the  facts  are  that 
such  a  striped  or  spotted  animal  lies  well  hidden  in  the  thicket 
or  the  jungle,  fpr  the  peculiar  markings  and  outlines  of  his  body 
are  not  quickly  distinguishable  from  the  lights  and  shadows 
which  the  sunshine  casts  about  him. 

True  mimicry,  however,  is  more  exact,  and  some  cases  are 
quite  remarkable.  Of  all  created  things  butterflies  are  able  to 
show  the  best  cases  of  mimicry  from  their  remarkable  colora- 
tion and  from  the  general  resemblance  of  the  structure  of  their 
wings  to  that  of  leaves.    For  an  example  of  color  mimicry  refer 

^  This  is  the  reason  why  the  United  States  has  abandoned  the  blue  uni- 
form and.  the  British  the  red  for  the  dirty-looking  but  really  serviceable  and 
inconspicuous  khaki. 


76  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

again  to  Fig.  lo.  Like  most  colored  insects  this  butterfly  pre- 
fers localities  colored  like  himself,  and  he  often  lights  and  sits 
for  a  considerable  time  on  trees  and  poles  more  or  less  covered 
with  lichens,  from  which  he  is  indistinguishable  except  on  the 
closest  scrutiny. 

This  is  true  mimicry.  The  remarkable  part  of  this  particular 
case  is  the  habit  of  lighting  and  the  manner  of  sitting.  The 
butterflies  as  a  rule  fold  the  wings  together  on  the  back  im- 
mediately upon  lighting,  but  this  particular  species,  instead  of 
folding  the  wings,  spreads  them  flat  and  sits  with  them  in  that 
position.    The  resemblance  to  the  lichen  is  not  very  exact,  but 

w 

Fig.  II.    Lower  and  upper  surface  respectively  of  Ancea phidile  (author's 
specimen),  a  tropical  butterfly  of  the  color  of  a  dead  leaf 

it  is  close  in  a  general  way,  and  the  writer  has  often  studied 
for  some  minutes  to  find  the  specimen  and  make  out  the 
outlines  even  when  he  had  seen  the  creature  in  the  very  act 
of  lighting. 

Mimicry  in  structure  is  illustrated  by  another  butterfly,  which, 
with  its  wings  folded  together,  exhibits  a  venation  quite  like 
that  of  a  small  leaf  of  the  beech  or  similar  tree.  Being  of  a 
brown  color,  its  resemblance  to  a  dead  leaf  is  close.  It  has  two 
very  different  methods  of  lighting.  Commonly  it  folds  its  wings 
not  after  lighting  but  before,  in  which  case  it  flutters  to  the 
ground  not  unlike  a  dead  leaf  falling  from  the  tree.  In  other 
cases  it  lights  directly  upon  twigs  or  stems,  in  which  instance  it 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD  ^^ 

lights  as  would  any  other  species,  but  stands  with  the  hinder 
points  of  its  wings  close  to  the  stem,  the  other  portion  standing 
out  like  a  dead  leaf  not  yet  fallen.  The  peculiar  long-drawn- 
out  point  at  the  rear  of  the  wing,  from  its  close  resemblance  to 
the  stem  of  the  leaf,  heightens  the  deception  (see  Fig.  1 1). 

Instances  could  be  multiplied  indefinitely  showing  how  one 
form  in  nature  imitates  or  more  properly  resembles  another, 
generally  to  the  advantage  of  one  or  the  other,  if  not  of  both. 
For  example,  certain  flies  without  stings  closely  resemble  bumble- 
bees, not  only  in  general  appearance  but  also  in  manner  of  flight. 
The  resemblance  might  be  closer,  but  it  no  doubt  is  some  ad- 
vantage to  the  impostor  and  insures  him  a  wider  berth  from 
boys,  at  least  until  they  learn  the  imposition,  after  which  its 
advantage  is  a  matter  of  doubt,  as  any  boy  can  testify  who  has 
had  the  satisfaction  of  tormenting  ''  shade  bumblebees." 

Design  in  nature.  The  consistent  student  must  not  interpret 
these  and  similar  facts  too  literally.  The  hasty  observer  and 
careless  writer  sees  *'  design  "  in  every  detail.  The  fact  is  that 
in  nature  there  are  many  resemblances  of  structure  between 
widely  separated  species,  and  it  is  inevitable  that  similarities 
should  occur.  When  once  they  happen  to  be  of  selective  value, 
then  natural  selection  rapidly  shapes  them  up  and  makes  the 
resemblance  closer  still. 

For  example,  the  flat,  thin  structure  of  the  leaf  requires  some 
system  of  ribs  and  veins  for  its  support.  The  wing  of  the 
butterfly  has  the  same  structural  necessity  and  for  the  same 
mechanical  reason.  The  two  structures,  therefore,  the  one  plant 
and  the  other  animal,  are  built  and  must  be  built  upon  a  similar 
plan.  It  is  inevitable,  therefore,  that  there  should  be  many  close 
structural  resemblances,  and  as  the  butterfly  takes  his  initial 
color  from  the  green  of  the  leaf,  these  resemblances  are  often 
still  further  heightened  by  remarkable  color  effects.  In  many 
ways,  therefore,  butterflies  resemble  foliage. 

Causes  of  color  in  animals  and  plants.  The  world  owes  no 
little  of  its  beauty  to  the  range  and  variety  of  color  of  its  plants 


jS  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

and  animals,  and  it  is  worth  the  while  to  note  briefly  how  nature 
produces  such  marvelous  effects  in  such  natural  ways.^ 

Colors  of  animals  and  plants  are  due  to  the  following  distinctly 
different  causes  : 

I .  The  manufacture  of  specific  coloring  materials  or  pigments 
either  as  a  necessary  part  of  the  body  activities  or  as  a  matter 
of  accident.  For  example,  the  universal  green  color  of  plants  is 
due  to  chlorophyll,  the  blue  of  which  fades  as  the  leaf  ages  or 
yields  to  the  influence  of  cold,  leaving  the  yellow  behind  to  char- 
acterize the  foliage  of  autumn. ^  The  green  of  birds  is  due  to 
a  specific  pigment  with  no  physiological  function  like  that  of 
chlorophyll ;  it  is  a  color  never  found  in  mammals. 

Red,  on  the  other  hand,  is  widely  diffused  among  both  plants 
and  animals.  The  red  color  of  blood  is  due  always  to  haemo- 
globin, a  substance  also  produced  by  a  great  variety  of  organisms. 
Red  pigments,  however,  are  produced  by  plants,  especially  in  the 
flowering  parts  and  in  the  leaves  of  certain  species,  rarely  during 
the  growing  period,  but  more  commonly  late  in  the  season. 

Yellow,  whether  in  plant  or  animal,  is  the  result  of  an  oily 
pigment,  and  the  three  pigments,  yellow,  blue,  and  red,  in  vary- 
ing proportions  and  distribution  are  capable  of  producing  about 
every  color  found  in  nature,  though  browns,  blacks,  and  even 
occasionally  whites  are  the  result  of  specific  pigment.^ 

1  We  have  a  habit  of  mind  which  leads  us  to  feel  that  when  an  event  or 
occurrence  is  known  to  be  natural,  then  all  mystery  is  cleared  away.  This 
attitude  of  mind  is  wrong,  and  it  deprives  us  of  some  of  our  chief  opportunities 
for  higher  meditation.  We  plant  a  seed  and  it  grows  into  a  tree.  We  say, 
"  There  is  no  mystery  in  that, —  it  was  natural";  but  the  truth  is  that  if  we  really 
consider  all  that  has  happened,  we  shall  see  that  a  greater  miracle  has  been 
performed  than  the  making  of  the  dumb  to  speak,  the  blind  to  see,  or  even  the 
raising  of  a  man  from  the  dead.  With  all  of  our  philosophy  and  all  of  our 
science  we  know  nothing  about  life,  —  whence  it  comes  or  how  it  works ;  we 
only  know  some  of  the  things  it  does. 

2  The  student  is  reminded  that  green  is  not  a  primary  color,  but  a  mixture 
of  yellow  and  blue. 

^  The  student  will  remember  that  the  so-called  three-color  process  of  print- 
ing succeeds  in  reproducing  practically  all  colors  by  the  proper  mingling  of 
these  three  primaries  —  red,  yellow,  and  blue.   Nature  does  the  same. 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD  79 

2.  Closely  akin  to  this  is  a  second  cause  of  color,  namely,  a 
body  surface  so  delicate  and  transparent  that  the  color  of  the 
creature  is  fixed  by  that  of  the  internal  parts,  as  in  certain  earth- 
worms, in  which  the  color  is  due  to  the  blood  showing  through 
the  transparent  skin,  while  in  related  species  a  dark  surface  pig- 
ment obscures  the  blood  and  gives  its  own  color  to  the  worm. 
In  other  cases,  as  frequently  in  larvae,  which  do  not  have  red 
blood,  the  contents  of  the  digestive  tract  show  through  the  skin 
and  give  color  to  the  insect.  In  this  way  all  leaf-feeding  larvae 
that  have  transparent  skins  are  green  in  color  ;  that  is,  they  look 
green,  though  that  which  gives  the  color  is  only  the  chlorophyll 
of  their  food. 

3.  Very  similar  to  the  above  is  a  class  of  cases  in  which  the 
pigment,  instead  of  being  fixed  at  the  surface,  as  in  hair  or  skin, 
is  contained  in  irregular-shaped  cells  extending  from  the  surface 
to  considerable  depths  beneath  the  skin.  When  the  creature  is 
at  rest  or  in  its  normal  conditions,  the  pigment  lies  near  the 
surface  and  gives  its  color  to  the  animal ;  but  if  it  be  paralyzed 
with  sudden  fright,  the  surface  layers  of  the  skin  contract  and 
drive  the  coloring  matter  into  the  deeper  layers  and  out  of  sight, 
so  that  the  creature  undergoes  a  blanching  process  quite  akin 
to  the  sudden  paling  of  the  face  when  the  blood  is  driven  out 
of  the  surface  veins  by  sudden  fright. 

4.  A  fourth  cause  of  color,  especially  in  animals,  is  the  storing 
away  in  the  cells  of  the  body  of  certain  waste  materials  taken  in 
with  the  food  and  not  digested  or  otherwise  eliminated  from  the 
body.  A  common  example  of  this  is  the  color  of  many  butter- 
flies whose  larvae  feed  freely  upon  leaves.  If  the  chlorophyll  is 
not  digested  or  otherwise  changed,  it  is  packed  away,  especially 
in  the  cells  of  the  wings,  either  uniformly  or  in  more  or  less 
regular  patterns  dependent  on  the  structure.  In  such  a  case 
the  butterfly  would  necessarily  be  green. 

If,  however,  it  should  secrete  some  material  that  would  dis- 
solve out  the  blue  part  of  the  green,  either  wholly  or  in  part,  the 
butterfly  would  be  yellow,  either  all  over  or  in  spots.   If,  however. 


8o  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

the  yellow  should  be  dissolved  away,  then  the  creature  would 
be  blue,  either  wholly  or  partially,  unless  indeed  it  should 
also  secrete  red  pigment,  which  would  then  discharge  its  own 
function  in  fixing  tints  which,  with  the  blue,  would  extend  to 
violet  or  even  black. 

Another  very  different  case  of  the  same  order  is  the  white  or 
light  color  quite  common  to  the  under  scales  of  snakes  and 
lizards,  an  effect  due  principally  to  the  storage  there  of  lime,  as 
we  store  the  same  substance  in  our  bones,  coming  in  both  cases 
from  the  food.  With  them  it  is  a  thoroughly  waste  product,  as 
it  is  with  us  late  in  life  after  the  bones  are  finished,  when  it 
often  makes  trouble  by  collecting  in  the  bladder  or  kidneys  in 
the  form  of  small  stones. 

5.  The  scintillating  effect  like  the  metallic  luster  of  certain 
plumage  is  due  not  to  pigment  but  to  strictly  mechanical  causes. 
In  the  humming  bird,  for  instance,  the  surface  of  the  feathers 
is  covered  with  minute  striae,  which,  by  their  unequal  reflection 
and  slight  refraction  of  the  light  rays,  give  that  beautiful  play  of 
colors  with  which  we  are  all  familiar,  and  which  is  not  greatly 
different  in  its  character  from  the  play  of  colors  in  pearl,  which 
is  also  due  to  the  fact  that  the  pearl  consists  of  exceedingly 
thin  laminae  laid  one  upon  another. 

6.  There  is  still  one  more  cause  of  coloration  worth  mention- 
ing here.  In  a  desert  where  everything  is  of  a  dull  gray  there 
is  practically  no  white  light,  because  certain  rays  are  absorbed 
by  the  universal  monotony  of  nature.  If  there  is  no  white 
light,  then  nothing  will  appear  in  its  natural  colors,  but  every- 
thing will  appear  to  be  of  a  dull  gray,  because  there  are  no 
other  colors  at  hand  to  be  reflected  to  the  eye,  just  as  in  an 
artificial  red  light  everything  appears  red^  no  matter  what  its 
color  might  be  in  perfect  light,  because  there  are  no  other  rays 
to  be  reflected. 

The  student  needs  to  be  exceedingly  careful,  therefore,  in 
generalizing  about  color  markings  and  utility.  The  color,  es- 
pecially of  animals,  is  often  highly  protective,  and  then  natural 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILD  8 1 

selection  tends  to  make  it  more  so.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
color  may  be  unfortunate,  in  which  case  the  species  will  go 
through  the  world  with  a  perpetual  handicap,  except  as  selection 
is  able  to  tone  it  down  and  relieve  it  of  some  of  its  hardship. 

Color  is  not  based  upon  utility,  nor  is  it  dependent  for  its 
function  upon  the  presence  of  light.  Some  of  the  most  brilliantly 
colored  fishes  reside  in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  so  remote  that  no 
ray  of  light  ever  reaches  them.  Everything  must  have  some 
relation  to  light  and  therefore  will  have  some  color  when  brought 
into  its  rays.  If  it  reflects  them  all,  it  will  be  white  ;  if  it  absorbs 
them  all  and  reflects  none,  it  will  be  black  ;  if  it  absorbs  all  but 
the  red,  it  will  reflect  those  rays  and  we  will  call  it  red  ;  if  it 
absorbs  the  red  and  reflects  only  the  yellow  and  the  blue,  we  will 
call  it  green,  and  so  on  with  the  infinite  changes  and  combinations 
that  result  through  the  relations  of  absorption  and  reflection. 

So  we  might  go  on  indefinitely,  showing  how  fits  and  adapta- 
tions, with  startling  accuracy,  arise  after  all  in  perfectly  natural, 
not  to  say  inevitable,  ways.  These  details  are  not  the  result  of 
design  but  of  accident.^  The  design  lies  much  farther  back  in 
the  great  scheme  of  life,  infinitely  more  complex  and  wonderful 
than  these  details  that  strike  our  attention,  and  which  exhibit 
rather  the  variety  of  nature's  design  than  a  deliberate  intent  at 
duplication  or  a  determination  to  favor  one  species  over  another. 

With  this  glimpse  into  the  way  of  the  wild  we  are  prepared 
for  a  somewhat  detailed  discussion  of  the  principal  facts  involved 
in  the  further  adaptation  of  animals  and  plants  to  the  needs  and 
purposes  of  man. 

1  Those  who  might  be  inclined  to  object  to  the  statement  that  every  detail 
in  nature  is  in  a  large  sense  accidental  should  consider  such  cases  as  the  sloth, 
which  is  a  grayish  green  in  his  natural  haunts,  but  in  captivity  gradually  loses 
the  greenish  tinge  and  fades  out  to  a  dull  gray.  The  reason  of  this  is  that  the 
greenish  tinge  was  originally  no  part  of  the  sloth,  but  was  due  to  the  green 
chlorophyll  of  the  minute  algae  that  are  enabled  to  live  upon  its  hair,  the 
moist  climate  and  the  sluggish  habits  of  the  creature  being  both  favorable  to 
the  vegetable  growth.  Any  number  of  equally  striking  instances  could  be 
given  to  show  that  color  is  in  its  origin  largely  accidental.  Of  course  under 
natural  selection  only  the  more  favorable  cases  could  survive. 


82  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Summary.  Infinitely  more  individuals  are  born  into  the  world  than  can 
possibly  find  room  and  food.  This  sets  up  a  struggle  for  food  and  room 
and  the  right  to  live,  under  which  the  fittest  alone  survive  to  reproduce 
their  kind. 

In  this  way  the  race  is  modified  or  improved,  because  each  succeeding 
generation  is  born,  not  from  average  individuals,  but  from  those  that  are 
best  able  to  meet  the  demands.  If  conditions  remain  constant,  in  a  few  gen- 
erations the  "  fit  "  becomes  close ;  but  if  the  conditions  change,  the  standard 
of  fitness  and  selection  changes  also,  which  necessarily  results  in  a  modi- 
fication of  the  race  in  a  new  direction,  the  principle  being  that  whatever 
happens  to  individuals,  the  race  as  a  whole  will  respond  to  selectiott  from 
whatever  standard  adtninistered.  This  is  the  principle  on  which  the 
breeder  operates,  though  his  standards  of  selection  are  the  ones  that  meet 
his  needs,  and  may  not  be  the  same  as  those  of  nature. 

Exercises.  1.  Estimate  the  number  of  seeds  in  a  robust  plant  of  purslane, 
pigweed,  or  plantain. 

2.  Ascertain  the  number  of  kernels  on  a  single  ear  of  corn,  and  calcu- 
late how  long  it  would  take  one  ear  to  produce  seed  enough  to  plant  the 
entire  state. 

3.  Outline  the  causes  that  prevent  the  unlimited  increase  of  various 
species,  especially  man  and  the  animals  and  plants  most  closely  related  to 
his  affairs. 

4.  Make  original  studies  into  the  different  methods  by  which  the  most 
troublesome  weeds  persist  in  spite  of  our  most  persistent  efforts  to  eradicate 
them ;  for  example,  Canada  thistle,  morning-glory,  ragweed,  purslane. 

5.  How  is  it  that  weeds  "  come  up  "  in  new  lands  never  before  culti- 
vated, and  what  are  the  various  ways  by  which  birds  and  other  animals 
carry  weed  seeds  ? 

6.  Go  to  the  fields  and  observe  the  various  ways  by  which  seeds  trans- 
port themselves,  especially  by  wind  and  water.  Make  studies  of  definite 
species  and  describe  carefully  their  habits  of  seed  distribution  ;  for  example, 
wild  cherry,  thisde,  cocklebur. 

References.    1.  "  Origin  of  Species  "  (especially  chaps,  iii  and  iv).  Darwin. 

2.  "  Darwiniana."    Asa  Gray. 

3.  "  Darwinism."    Wallace. 

4.  "  Color  of  Animals."    Beddard. 


CHAPTER  VI 
EFFECT  OF  NATURAL  SELECTION 

Natural  selection  means  progressive  development  •  Effect  of  selection  upon 
the  individual  ■  Selection  good  for  the  species  that  can  endure  it  •  Selection 
fatal  to  a  race  that  cannot  endure  its  hardships  •  Interest  of  the  individual 
and  the  race  not  identical  •  A  close  fit  between  a  species  and  its  environment 
is  inevitable  •  Apparent  exceptions  due  to  absence  of  severe  selection  • 
Adaptation  not  necessarily  perfect  •  Our  standards  of  selection  differ  from 
those  of  nature  •  Not  all  the  results  of  natural  selection  are  useful  to  us  • 
Our  standards  often  require  much  readjustment  of  domesticated  species  • 
Natural  selection  always  at  work  •  Power  of  selection  to  modify  type 

Natural  selection  means  progressive  development.  Natural 
selection  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest  mean  progressive  develop- 
ment for  the  species,  because  each  new  generation  is  born,  not 
from  an  average,  but  from  a  highly  selected  parentage,  limited 
to  the  few  that  best  fit  the  conditions  of  life  as  a  whole.  This 
means  that  each  new  generation  is  a  little  better  born  than  the 
last,  and  that  the  ''  fit  "  becomes  a  little  closer  with  each  genera- 
tion, till  it  becomes  approximately  perfect  if  conditions  remain 
constant,  all  of  which  is  to  be  counted  an  improvement  of  the 
species  as  measured  by  natural  standards. 

For  example,  the  bills  of  woodpeckers  are  bound  to  become 
a  little  longer  and  a  little  better  adapted  to  the  needs  so  long 
as  selection  continues,  because  all  below  a  certain  standard  are 
being  constantly  exterminated.  Moreover,  in  many  cases,  the 
standard  of  selection  is  likely  to  rise  as  time  goes  on,  working 
still  further  improvement.  Thus  deer  and  wolves  frequently 
run  wild  in  the  same  regions.  The  deer  live  upon  vegetation, 
but  the  wolves  live  upon  the  deer.  Both  depend  on  their  legs, 
the  one  for  pursuit,  the  other  for  protection.  Under  conditions 
such  as  these,  the  slow  and  the  crippled  deer  would  be  first 

83 


84  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

killed  off,  and  the  fleetest  would  go  scot  free.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  fleetest  wolves  would  be  best  fed  and  the  laggards 
would  die  of  hunger.  In  this  way  both  species  would  develop 
high  speed  and  great  wariness,  and  this  development  would  pro- 
gress further  and  further  as  the  competition  grew  keener  with 
each  passing  generation.  The  horse  has  almost  certainly  come 
up  through  a  similar  experience  in  ages  past. 

Effect  of  selection  upon  the  individuaL  This  effect  is  two- 
fold. First  of  all,  it  sharpens  the  wits  of  the  individual  if  he 
has  any,  and  develops  to  the  utmost  whatever  faculties  he  may 
possess.  If  by  this  he  is  able  to  withstand  the  competition,  he  is 
in  every  way  the  better  for  it. 

If,  however,  as  generally  happens  where  the  selective  process 
is  severe,  it  is  only  the  few  that  are  able  to  withstand,  then  the 
masses  will  go  down  in  the  struggle ;  so  that  the  total  effects 
of  selection  may  be  said  to  be  hard  upon  all  but  the  few  individ- 
uals, and  its  chief  advantage  is  to  the  race  as  a  whole. 

Selection  good  for  the  species  that  can  endure  it.  By  this  we 
mean  that  if  a  number  of  individuals  sufficient  to  keep  up  the 
population  are  able  to  meet  the  demands  of  selection,  then  the 
species  will  rapidly  progress ;  and  up  to  this  point  the  more 
severe  the  selection  the  better  for  the  race.  This  is  an  impor- 
tant distinction  in  all  evolution  that  should  never  be  forgotten, 
for  it  is  only  when  undergoing  severe  selection  that  species 
change  much  in  their  characters  from  generation  to  generation. 

Next  to  sudden  calamity  the  greatest  misfortune  that  can 
happen  to  a  species  or  a  race  is  a  long  succession  of  easy  times, 
when  the  whole  population  settles  down  to  a  dead  level  of  inac- 
tivity. Then  are  the  days  of  extinction  imminent,  for  matters 
will  not  always  run  in  an  accustomed  rut,  and  when  the  days  of 
sudden  and  unaccustomed  changes  come,  they  are  likely  to  find 
things  unprepared. 

Selection  fatal  to  a  race  that  cannot  endure  its  hardships. 
It  matters  little  to  the  race  what  happens  to  individuals,  so  long 
as  a  sufficient  number  prosper.    It  is  vital,   however,  that  a 


EFFECT  OF  NATURAL  SELECTION  85 

sufficient  number  do  prosper,  for  it  is  upon  them  that  the 
succession  depends. 

If  the  conditions  are  so  hard  or  the  individuals  so  far  below  the 
standard  that  none,  or  at  most  but  very  few,  can  meet  the  demands 
of  the  struggle,  then,  of  course,  are  the  days  of  the  species  num- 
bered, and  thousands  of  races  like  millions  of  individuals  have 
met  these  conditions  and  gone  down  under  them  since  the  world 
was  young.  We  speak  of  these  as  extinct  species,  but  who  knows 
what  buried  possibilities  were  lost  in  the  dim  past  when  the  ele- 
mental energies  were  at  work  laying  the  foundations  of  things  ? 

Interest  of  the  individual  and  the  race  not  identicaL  In  this 
way  we  fully  realize  that  the  interests  of  the  race  are  not  identi- 
cal, indeed  are  often  at  variance,  with  those  of  the  individual. 

This  is  true,  however,  only  for  the  existing  generation,  be- 
cause the  interests  of  future  individuals  are  involved  with  those 
of  the  race,  and  whatever  benefits  the  race  as  a  whole  is  good 
for  future  individuals,  just  as  we  all,  in  these  days,  are  happier 
for  the  bloodshed  and  self-sacrifice  of  the  thousands  of  our  fore- 
fathers who  gave  themselves  up  in  labor  and  in  war  to  make 
the  world  a  better  place  in  which  to  live. 

In  the  struggles  of  a  race  with  or  against  its  environment 
one  or  the  other  must  yield.  With  intelligent  and  powerful 
beings  like  men  it  is  often  possible  to  modify  the  conditions  of 
life  and  not  submit  to  the  necessity  of  its  hardships.  When, 
however,  this  is  impossible,  either  by  reason  of  the  rigidity  of 
conditions  or  the  helplessness  of  the  race,  then  nothing  remains 
but  that  the  species  as  a  whole  should  bow  to  the  inevitable 
and  bend  its  characters  to  conditions  it  cannot  break.  Here  the 
sacrifice  of  individuals  of  one  generation  is  fully  compensated 
in  the  next,  so  that  in  the  long  run  the  interests  of  the  race  and 
the  individuals  that  compose  it  are  identical. 

A  close  fit  between  a  species  and  its  environment  is  inevitable. 
This  rapid  shaping  of  a  species  in  harmony  with  its  surround- 
ings is  bound  to  bring  about  a  close  "fit"  between  a  species  and 
the  peculiar  circumstances  by  which  it  is  surrounded. 


86  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

It  could  not  well  be  otherwise,  certainly  in  so  far  as  vital 
particulars  are  concerned.  If  the  bill  is  a  little  too  short  or  too 
soft  to  reach  the  worm  as  he  burrows  deeper,  then  it  will  be 
promptly  lengthened,  not  in  short-billed  individuals  but  in  the 
descendants  of  those  with  longer  bills.  If  the  marking  of  the 
butterfly  is  similar  to  a  leaf  or  a  lichen,  then  those  individuals 
in  which  the  resemblance  is  closest  will  profit  most  and  the 
similarity  will  grow  closer.  If  the  relations  between  two  species 
happen  to  be  mutually  beneficial,  then  those  relations  will  be  still 
better  perfected  in  future  generations  by  the  selective  process, 
till  possibly  they  may  become  essential  to  the  existence  of  one 
or  the  other,  if  not  of  both. 

For  example,  certain  moths  have  the  habit  of  laying  their 
eggs  only  upon  particular  plants,  then  of  gathering  a  pellet  of 
pollen  off  the  flowers  and  storing  it  near  the  egg  as  food  for 
the  young  larva,  thereby  pollinating  the  flower,^  Some  of  these 
"fits"  seem  unaccountable  except  on  the  basis  of  intelligence  or 
design,  but  when  we  remember  not  only  the  very  low  intelligence 
of  the  moth,  but  also  the  fact  that  she  never  sees  the  outcome  of 
it  all,  since  she  will  be  dead  before  her  own  eggs  hatch,  the  role 
of  intelligence  is  eliminated.  When  also  we  remember  that 
some  of  the  best  fits  are  peculiarly  fatal  to  one  of  its  members,  we 
rule  out  design,  for  nature  is  not  partial  as  between  its  creatures.^ 

Apparent  exceptions  due  to  absence  of  severe  selection.  The 
fit  is  often  notably  bad,  as  when  the  moth  flies  into  the  candle, 
impelled  by  an   instinct   it   cannot  control,^  but  to  which   it 

1  See  the  case  of  the  yucca  moth  described  in  "  Principles  of  Breeding," 
p.  105,  which  see  also  for  a  general  discussion  of  Instinct,  pp.  386-404. 

2  Ofttimes  the  insect's  egg  is  laid  inside  the  body  of  another  creature,  which 
is  necessarily  fatal,  just  as  the  fact  that  the  best  temperature  and  conditions 
for  tuberculosis  happen  to  fit  alarmingly  close  with  that  of  cattle  (102°)  and 
the  extremely  insanitary  way  in  which  many  of  them  are  kept  in  our  hot  and 
close  basement  barns.  Surely  this  is  not  design,  nor  is  it  especially  beneficent, 
for  the  tubercle  bacillus  certainly  cannot  have  interests  worth  consideration, 
even  if  we  disregard  those  of  our  cattle  and  our  own  as  well.  The  fit  is,  never- 
theless, close  and  complete. 

*  See  '*  Principles  of  Breeding,"  pp.  394-397,  for  a  discussion  of  the  causes 
of  instinctive  acts. 


EFFECT  OF  NATURAL  SELECTION  Sj 

responds  at  the  cost  of  its  life.  Manifestly  this  is  because  of 
unusual  conditions,  for  if  there  were  very  many  naked  lights  in 
the  world,  relatively  speaking,  these  moths  would  become  ex- 
tinct unless  there  were  a  sufficient  number  of  individuals  with- 
out this  fatal  instinct  to  keep  the  numbers  good,  in  which  case 
a  new  and  real  fit  would  be  developed.  The  cause  of  the 
present  misfit  is  of  course  due  to  the  fact  that  the  fatal  selection 
is  too  rare  to  greatly  affect  the  species  ;  that  is,  the  selection  is 
not  severe  upon  the  species  because,  relatively  speaking,  it  is 
not  frequently  exercised. 

The  foot  of  the  elephant  has  been  mentioned  as  a  disadvan- 
tage. The  immense  branching  horns  of  the  stag  are  certainly 
far  from  being  advantageous  to  him,  or  even  a  good  fit  with 
his  brushy  environment,  with  which  they  frequently  become 
entangled.  Many  a  stag  has  gone  down  to  his  death  because 
his  horns  became  entangled  in  the  thicket  or  locked  with  those 
of  an  adversary,  and  many  pairs  of  antlers  are  found  lying  be- 
tween two  skeletons,  mute  witnesses  of  the  final  death  struggle 
in  which  the  cause  of  the  tragedy  was  the  unfortunate  horns 
that  are  commonly  supposed  to  be  protective. 

The  present  point  is,  that  while  this  is  far  from  a  good  fit, 
yet  the  fatal  consequences  do  not  follow  with  sufficient  frequency 
to  affect  the  species.  But  few  males  are  needed  to  perpetuate 
the  species,  and  the  small  number  that  lose  their  lives  by  means 
of  their  unfortunate  horns  can  well  be  spared,  for  they  will  not 
be  needed  in  the  propagation  of  the  new  generation.  As  will  be 
readily  seen,  defects  in  females  are  much  more  dangerous  to 
species  than  are  defects  in  males. 

Adaptation  not  necessarily  perfect.  The  fit  between  various 
species  and  their  environment,  and  the  adaptation  of  their  parts 
to  the  surrounding  conditions,  are  not,  therefore,  necessarily 
perfect.  It  must  be  good  enough  to  insure  abundance  of  offspring 
for  the  next  generation,  and  that  is  enough.  Any  race,  therefore, 
can  endure  any  handicap  up  to  this  point  and  prosper,  and  that 
is  why  natural  selection  carries  improvement  up  to  a  certain  point 


88  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

and  stops.  Nature  does  not  aim  at  perfection,  but  every  species 
is  just  as  good  as  competition  makes  it,  and  no  better. 

Writers  when  discussing  this  topic  often  overstate  the  facts. 
They  are  impressed  by  the  niceties  of  adjustment  so  frequently 
seen  in  nature,  and  rush  to  the  assumption  that  everything  is 
perfectly  adjusted  and  perfectly  adaptive.  It  is  better  to  under- 
stand that  upon  the  whole  characters  are  and  must  be  highly 
but  not  perfectly  adaptive  ;  that  such  adaptations  are  achieved 
at  great  distress  to  individuals  and  temporary  danger  to  the 
species^  and  that  they  will  never  be  more  numeroics  or  closer 
than  circumstances  compel ;  so  that  each  species  generally  sur- 
vives with  one  or  m,ore  handicaps^  in  which  the  fatalities  are 
not  sufficient  to  force  a  fit  upon  the  one  hand  or  bring  about 
extinction  iLpon  the  other. 

Looked  at  in  this  way,  the  animals  and  plants  of  the  forest  as 
we  see  them,  even  in  a  state  of  nature,  represent  a  choice  but 
not  a  perfect  lot,  bom,  upon  the  whole,  as  they  are,  from  a 
highly  selected  though  not  perfect  ancestry ;  that  is,  from  the 
standpoint  of  nature  these  species  were  already  highly  bred 
when  first  domesticated  by  our  forefathers. 

Our  standards  of  selection  differ  from  those  of  nature.  In 
nature  selection  is  based  only  on  the  struggle  for  existence. 
Nothing  avails  that  does  not  bear  upon  the  supreme  issue  of 
mere  ability  to  live  and  reproduce  fast  enough  to  keep  ahead  of 
the  death  rate  and  thus  maintain  the  balance  of  life  in  favor 
of  the  species.  Natural  selection  is  thus  based  on  anything  and 
everything  that  affects  the  mere  question  of  life,  death,  and 
reproduction,  and  nothing  else.  It  secures,  of  course,  great  vigor, 
comparatively  long  life,i  and  at  least  a  reasonable  degree  of 
fecundity  together  with  the  extreme  development  of  whatever 
physical  part  or  trait  of  character  is  directly  concerned  with  the 
preservation  and  sustenance  of  life,  and  there  it  will  stop. 

^  See  Fig.  12.  This  is  the  same  burro  shown  on  page  7  in  his  working  out- 
fit, when  engaged  in  building  the  Pikes  Peak  Railroad  many  years  ago.  His 
labors  are  done  and  he  is  now  kept  for  photographic  purposes.  He  illustrates 
the  longevity  of  rare  individuals. 


EFFECT  OF  NATURAL  SELECTION 


89 


Our  selection  begins,  therefore,  where  natural  selection  leaves 
off,  and  it  aims  to  secure  also  the  development  of  some  part  or 
faculty  that  is  of  special  value  to  us.  For  example,  nature  would 
develop  a  sharp  horn  in  cattle  and  perfect  the  instinct  to  hide 
the  young  at  birth,  ^  but  it  would  not  develop  the  milking  process 
to  a  very  high  degree  for  the  reason  that  almost  any  cow  in  a 
state  of  nature  could  give  enough  milk  to  satisfy  her  calf. 


Fig.  12.    Old  Dick,  now  fifty-six  years  old 


Natural  selection  develops  the  speed  and  endurance  of  horses, 
as  also,  very  likely,  their  vision  and  the  quality  of  the  hoof,  but 
it  does  not  develop  the  size  we  need  for  draft  purposes,  nor 
bring  out  the  action  nor  the  teachableness  we  desire  for  driv- 
ing purposes. 

The  agility  of  sheep  and  goats  is  rather  overdeveloped  in 
nature  for  our  purposes,  but  the  fineness  of  the  fleece  and  length 

1  Every  farmer  boy  knows  that  the  cow  will  hide  her  calf,  and  if  conditions 
are  at  all  favorable,  it  will  take  a  good  hunt  to  find  it. 


90  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

of  staple  needs  further  attention.  It  was  good  enough  for  them, 
but  nothing  attainable  is  too  good  for  us,  in  our  opinion 
at  least. 

In  nature,  if  a  plant  seeds  freely  it  will  probably  survive,  and 
it  makes  little  difference  whether  all  or  only  a  few  individuals 
seed  abundantly,  but  when  we  raise  a  crop  we  desire  an  abun- 
dant yield,  and  to  secure  this  every  individual  plant  should  do 
its  share.   In  domestication  we  want  no  laggards. 

Fruits  and  flowers  may  easily  be  sufficiently  sweet  and  juicy, 
or  showy  and  fragrant  to  be  attractive  to  animals  and  insects, 
and  thus  secure  the  essential  points  of  fertilization  and  distri- 
bution ;  but  with  our  refined  sensibilities  and  educated  tastes  we 
require  and  exact  the  finest  flowers,  the  most  delicate  colors,  and 
the  most  delicious  fragrance  that  can  be  produced  by  the  most 
discriminating  selection. 

Not  all  the  results  of  natural  selection  are  useful  to  us.  Some 
of  the  achievements  of  natural  selection  do  not  commend  them- 
selves to  our  favor,  as,  for  example,  when  the  seeds  of  the  stipa 
grass,  with  their  sharp  and  barbed  points  adapted  to  boring  and 
their  twisted,  crooked  tails  adapted  to  pushing  and  twisting,  get 
upon  our  animals  and  enter  the  flesh.  Then  our  admiration  for 
the  fine  adaptations  of  nature  is  turned  to  alarm,  as  it  is  when 
the  botfly  torments  our  horse  to  hatch  her  young  in  his  stomach, 
or  the  yellow-fever  germ  enters  our  blood  by  way  of  the  bite  ^ 
of  the  mosquito. 

Even  some  of  our  most  useful  species  bring  with  them  certain 
traits  highly  developed  by  natural  selection,  which  are  worse  than 
useless  for  our  purposes.  For  example,  the  extreme  timidity 
of  the  horse,  akin  to  that  of  the  deer  and  the  antelope,  is  useful 
to  him  in  nature,  no  doubt,  but  for  our  purpose  we  should  like 
to  exchange  it  for  the  quiet  confidence  of  the  dog,  which  is  born 
of  boldness  rather  than  of  timidity  and  is  toned  down  by  associa- 
tion with  his  master.  As  it  is,  we  must  develop  the  confidence 
of  the  horse  against  his  natural  instincts. 

1  It  is  needless  to  remark  that  the  mosquito  does  not  truly  bite. 


EFFECT  OF  NATURAL  SELECTION 


91 


We  should  be  glad  to  be  rid  of  the  sharp  horn,  the  surly 
disposition,  and  the  fighting  nature  of  bulls.  We  domesticated 
the  race  for  its  milk  and  its  meat,  not  for  its  fighting  qualities, 
but  were  forced  to  take  these  undesirable  traits  into  the  bar- 
gain, like  a  job  lot  at  auction,  and  they  have  made  us  no  little 
trouble  ever  since.  We  are  beginning  now  to  cut  off  these 
emblems  of  savagery,  these  weapons  ^  of  the  woods,  and  still 
more  sensibly  to  breed  them  off.  The  latter  must,  from  the 
nature  of  the  case,  be  a  somewhat  gradual  process,  particularly 
as  our  best  breeds  are  so  well  fixed  in  other  characteristics. 

Our  standards  often  require  much  readjustment  of  domesti- 
cated species.  Having  domesticated  a  species  because  of  some 
valuable  natural  quality,  we  often  institute  conditions  of  life  quite 
different  from  those  under  which  the  quality  was  developed  and 
under  which  the  species  has  lived,  all  of  which  make  necessary 
the  most  radical  readjustments  on  the  part  of  the  species  in  order 
to  meet  the  new  conditions  and  still  maintain  its  natural  faculties, 
not  impaired,  but  improved  if  possible. 

The  pig  affords  the  most  conspicuous  example  of  this  change 
in  conditions  of  life  without  change  in  our  demands.  We 
domesticated  him  solely  for  his  flesh,  which  is  exceedingly  rich 
in  fat.^  In  his  wild  state  the  pig  lives  an  active  woods  life,  sub- 
sisting on  roots,  nuts,  and  a  little  flesh  when  he  can  get  it.  He 
is,  for  example,  an  expert  snake  hunter,  setting  his  feet  on  the 

1  The  cruelty  of  cutting  off  horns  has  been  greatly  overrated.  The  horn  is 
comparable  not  to  the  bone  but  to  the  finger  nail,  being  an  outgrowth  of  the 
skin  merely.  The  practice  of  dehorning  is  mild  as  compared  with  the  shock- 
ing and  useless  barbarity  of  docking  horses.  Every  horn  that  is  cut  off  pre- 
vents vastly  more  injury  and  misery  than  it  causes. 

2  The  ground  hog  or  woodchuck  during  the  summer  lays  on  a  great  store 
of  fat  and  during  winter  hibernates,  that  is,  sleeps  almost  continuously,  main- 
taining a  low  degree  of  vital  activities  at  slight  expense  of  food  materials,  which 
is  met  from  the  store  of  fat  under  his  skin,  just  as  the  turnip  or  the  beet  sends 
up  its  seed  stalk  and  ripens  its  crop  from  the  food  material  stored  in  the  root. 
The  pig,  like  the  bear,  is  a  kind  of  half  hibernator,  that  is,  with  a  good  store 
of  fat  he  can  endure  long  periods  of  scarcity  and  even  go  a  considerable  time 
without  food,  as  has  been  learned  when  pigs  have  been  accidentally  confined 
under  straw  stacks  for  a  number  of  weeks. 


92  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

animal  with  great  skill  and  at  once  ripping  up  the  body  with 
the  teeth  and  tusks. 

In  domestication  'we  change  all  this.  We  shut  him  up  in 
a  close  little  pen  in  the  open  sun,  away  from  water,  and  feed 
him  mostly  on  grain,  or,  in  cases  of  extra  care,  on  mush,  perhaps 
cooked  and  steaming  hot.  Now  the  pig  cannot  sweat.  He  has 
no  glands  for  the  purpose.  In  nature  he  lives  in  the  shade  and 
runs  to  the  river  when  oppressed  by  heat.  He  is  not  used  to  an 
exclusive  diet  of  seeds,  and  has  never  accustomed  himself  to 
hot  soup  and  steaming  mush.  He  has  not  been  selected  on 
that  basis,  and  what  wonder  that  he  makes  the  most  of  any  water 
or  even  mud  that  he  can  reach,  doing  his  best  with  snout  and 
tusk  to  bury  himself  in  the  ground,  and  snapping  greedily  at 
alfalfa  or  clover  hay  pasture  grass,  or  anything  else  that  will  help 
to  restore  the  conditions  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed  by  long 
generations  of  selection !  We  must  either  change  our  habits  of 
keeping  the  pig,  as  the  best  farmers  are  doing,  or  he  will  be 
obliged  to  radically  change  his  nature,  which  will  take  much  time 
and  be  exceedingly  expensive  to  us,  for  it  costs  dearly  to  make 
over  a  species  in  respect  to  fundamental  characters. 

Again,  we  often  add  a  requirement  or  two  to  the  natural 
qualities  which  led  to  domestication,  all  of  which  will  of  course 
require  no  little  readjustment  of  the  nature  of  the  species  in 
order  to  meet  new  demands.  For  example,  the  chicken  was 
doubtless  domesticated  for  her  eggs  and  the  sheep  for  its  wool, 
but  we  have  made  meat  animals  out  of  both.  Beets  were  at  first 
cultivated  as  a  toothsome  vegetable,  but  later  developed  for  the 
sugar  content,  which  vastly  changed  the  nature  of  the  plant,  as 
it  required  substantial  addition  to  the  leaf  surface.^ 

So  examples  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely  to  show  how 
we  have  added,  and  indeed  are  constantly  adding,  new  require- 
ments to  our  domesticated  species,  requiring  additional  selection, 

1  Sugar  is  practically  carbon  and  water,  and  this  new  demand  fell  heaviest 
on  the  leaves,  which,  as  has  been  explained,  are  the  agents  for  fixing  and  bring- 
ing into  the  plant  the  carbon  from  the  carbon  dioxide  of  the  air. 


EFFECT  OF  NATURAL  SELECTION 


93 


not  only  to  develop  still  further  their  naturally  valuable  qualities, 
but  to  bring  about  more  or  less  radical  readjustments  occasioned 
and  made  necessary  by  these  new  demands  of  ours. 

Natural  selection  always  at  work.  We  must  not  for  a  mo- 
ment suppose  that  our  domestication  and  the  new  standards  of 
breeding  entirely  do  away  with  natural  selection.  In  respect  to 
tooth  and  claw,  of  course  selection  stops  the  moment  we  make 
warfare  impossible,  but  in  such 
fundamental  matters  as  constitu- 
tional vigor,  fecundity,  and  the 
vital  and  reproductive  faculties 
natural  selection  never  surren- 
ders its  hold  upon  a  species. 

Ofttimes  we  forget  this  and 
are  brought  up  standing  by  the 
consequences.  Sometimes  our 
standards  of  selection  are  unwit- 
tingly at  opposites  with  these 
fundamental  matters,  and  then 
the  shock  and  the  lesson  are 
severe.  For  instance,  many  an 
amateur  breeder  will  select  the 
fattest  and  smoothest  pigs  for 
breeding  purposes,  not  knowing 
that  these  are  neither  the  most 
prolific   nor  the    hardiest.    His 

herd  soon  runs  out.  Natural  selection  has  been  at  work  day 
and  night  to  undermine  his  herd  at  the  point  of  infertility. 

Some  very  favorite  strains  of  cattle  or  sheep  are  decidedly 
''  shy  breeders."  If  so,  it  may  as  well  be  understood  that  they 
will  go  down  under  the  relentless  work  of  natural  selection, 
unless  indeed  the  defect  can  be  speedily  remedied  by  finding 
prolific  strains  among  the  favorites. 

Power  of  selection  to  modify  type.  Selection  can  do  far 
more  than  develop  a  single  type  to  conform  to  some  single 


Fig.  13.    The     passenger    pigeon, 

wild  parent  of  all  the  domesticated 

sorts  that  have  been  developed  by 

selection  (see  Figs.  14  and  15) 


Fk;.  14,    Types  of  pigeons  developed  from  tlic   rock   or  passenger  pigeon 
shown  in  Fig.  13 

2,  Barb;  3,  Swallow;  4,  Magpie;  5,  Chinese  owl;  6,  English  pouter;  7,  Dragon; 

8,  Duchess;  9,  Fantail ;  10,  Maltese  hen;   11,  Frillback; 

12,  English  carrier;  13,  Morehead 

94 


Fig.  15.    Additional  types  developed  from  the  passenger  pigeon,  by  selection 

and  breeding 

14,  White  homers  ;  15,  Oriental  frills  ;  16,  Fantails  ;  17,  Turbits ; 
18,  Birmingham  tumblers  ;  19,  English  sterlings  ; 


20,  Russian  trumpeters ; 

95 


21,  Jacobins 


96  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

balance  of  natural  condition  of  climate,  room,  and  food  supply. 
If  these  fundameiitals  are  provided  for,  selection  is  able  to 
modify  type  in  many  directions  at  the  same  time,  so  that  from 
a  single  original  stock  a  multitude  of  diverse  forms  may  be 
built  up. 

There  are  no  better  instances  of  this  than  the  pigeon,  the 
many  and  diverse  varieties  of  which  have  been  bred  within  his- 
toric times  from  the  single  primitive  form,  the  wild  or  passenger 
pigeon  (see  Fig.  13).  Hardly  second  to  this  is  the  wonderful 
variety  in  the  different  breeds  of  the  dog,  well  known  to  all 
observers. 

If  this  can  be  done  with  these  species,  what  a  future  of  possi- 
bilities is  opened  up  for  still  further  developing  and  improving 
our  animals  and  plants  of  field,  orchard,  and  garden ! 

Summary.  The  marvelous  effects  of  natural  selection  and  its  power  to 
modify  type  to  fit  the  surroundings  simply  through  the  extermination  of  the 
inferior  individuals,  suggests  to  man  a  means  of  still  further  adapting  these 
species  to  his  own  needs. 

In  nature  the  basis  of  selection  is  simply  the  power  to  live  and  repro- 
duce fast  enough  to  keep  up  with  the  death  rate.  Man,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  interested  in  something  besides  mere  life  and  reproduction. 

For  example,  he  keeps  the  cow  for  her  milk,  and  he  is  interested  in  the 
amount  she  can  give.  In  nature  she  needed  only  to  give  enough  for  the 
calf,  and  that  only  until  he  could  wholly  or  partly  shift  for  himself.  In  do- 
mestication, on  the  other  hand,  man  considers  the  cow  as  a  machine  that 
should  give  all  the  milk  possible  and  give  it  continuously.  Manifestly, 
therefore,  man  must  set  up  some  additional  standards  of  selection,  and  all 
the  evidence  is  that  he  does  this ;  the  domestic  cow  reacts,  and  increases  her 
output.  This  does  not  mean  that  a  poor  cow  can  be  made  into  a  good  one 
by  any  process  known  to  man,  but  does  mean  that  if  the  dairyman  breeds 
only  from  his  best  cows,  the  calves  will  develop  into  a  better  lot,  on  the 
average,  than  they  would  have  been  if  he  had  bred  from  good,  bad,  and 
indifferent. 

This  is  artificial  selection,  copied  after  nature's  plan.  It  has  been  prac- 
ticed from  the  earliest  times,  and  is  the  process  that  has  produced  about  all 
the  improvement  that  has  been  made  up  to  near  the  present  day. 

This  plan  of  improvement  by  selection  will  be  considered  later  in  detail 
under  the  head   of  systematic  improvement  of  animals  and  of  plants. 


EFFECT  OF  NATURAL  SELECTION 


97 


Meanwhile  we  leave  it  here  to  develop  another  and  a  newer  method  of 
improvement,  based  on  a  more  careful  study  and  a  more  minute  knowledge 
of  the  real  constitution  of  living  beings. 

Exercise.    Give  the  history  of  some  breed  of  domestic  animal,  —  cattle, 
horse,  sheep,  pig,  dog,  or  chicken. 

References.    1.  "Types  and  Breeds  of  Farm  Animals."    Plumb. 

2.  "  Dogcraft."    Hachwalt. 

3.  ''  Survival  of  the  Unlike."    Bailey. 


CHAPTER  VII 
UNIT  CHARACTERS 

Unit  of  study  •  Species  composed  of  definite  characters  •  Every  individual 
possesses  all  the  characters  of  the  race  •  Characters  developed  and  characters, 
latent  •  Characters  dominant  and  characters  recessive  •  Correlation  of  charac- 
ters •  Lost  characters  •  New  characters  •  Characters  and  unit  characters 

Unit  of  Study.  In  attempting  to  discover  the  ultimate  prin- 
ciples involved  in  plant  or  animal  improvement  as  we  have 
learned  to  understand  it,  the  special  object  of  study  is  not  the 
species  as  a  whole  nor  even  the  individuals  involved,  but  rather 
the  particular  characters  that  give  the  species  value  to  man,  and 
their  relation  to  the  general  group  of  unit  characters  that  com- 
pose the  race.  This  study  is  undertaken  with  the  purpose  of 
developing  a  second  method  of  improvement  in  addition  to  the 
one  by  simple  selection  already  outlined. 

Species  composed  of  definite  characters.  It  requires  a  little 
careful  thought  to  fully  realize  that  all  species  are  composed  of 
very  definite  characters, —  some  more  prominent  than  others, 
some  especially  prominent  in  certain  individuals  and  secondary 
in  others,  and  still  others  that  might  be  included,  for  all  we 
know  or  can  see,  but  that  yet  are  never  found. 

For  example,  vertebrae  and  ribs  are  characters  common  to 
many  species,  a  hairy  covering  to  vastly  fewer,  horns  to  fewer 
yet,  and  smooth,  sharp  horns  to  very  few.  The  short,  smooth, 
sharp  horn,  characteristic  of  the  bison,  and  the  large,  flat, 
corrugated  one  of  the  true  buffalo  are  very  different,  the  one 
from  the  other,  but  each  is  found  in  no  other  species.  There 
is  no  evident  reason  why  horses  do  not  have  horns  like 
most  cattle,  but  the  fact  is  that  this  character  is  absent  in  the 
genus  Equtis. 

98 


UNIT  CHARACTERS 


99 


The  limitation  of  unit  characters  is  well  brought  out  in  respect 
to  color.  Butterflies  have  black,  white,  red,  green  (with  both  its 
constituents,  yellow  and  blue),  and  almost  all  conceivable  shades 
and  markings.  Birds  have  the  same,  but  with  few  cases  of  the 
green.  Cattle  have  black,  white,  red,  and  a  kind  of  yellow 
and  blue,  but  no  green.  These  colors  combine,  too,  both  in 
spots  and  roans.  Pigs  have  black,  white,  and  red,  in  which 
the  combination  is  frequently  spotted  (piebald)  but  never  roan. 
Horses  have  black,  white,  and  a  kind  of  red,  mixed  in  both 
spots  and  roans,  but  no  blue  or  green  ;  that  is  to  say,  color 
characters  are  limited. 

All  this  means  that  species  are  made  up  of  certain  definite 
characters,  and  these  characters  run  through  and  among  the 
individuals  like  colored  threads  in  the  warp  and  woof  of  cloth, 
throwing  up  here  one  pattern  and  there  another,  according  to 
the  relative  intensity  and  frequency  of  the  various  units. 

What  is  true  of  colors  and  color  patterns  is  true  of  other 
characters  of  the  race,  and  the  term  ''  unit  character  "  is  a  good 
one  to  designate  these  half-independent  and  half-dependent 
assortments  of  physical  features  that  go  to  make  up  the  various 
species  in  nature.  It  is  upon  these  unit  characters  separately, 
and  not  upon  their  composite  effect,  that  the  attention  should 
now  be  fixed. 

Every  individual  possesses  all  the  characters  of  the  race. 
After  being  convinced  that  no  two  individuals  are  alike,  it  is 
easy  to  assume  that  they  differ  in  the  particular  unit  characters 
they  possess.  This  is  a  mistake.  Every  individual  possesses  all 
the  characters  of  the  race  to  which  he  belongs,  whether  they 
are  evident  or  not,  whether  they  are  developed  or  undeveloped. 
Individual  differences  in  most  respects  are  quantitative  rather 
than  qualitative,  that  is,  are  due  to  relative  development  or  non- 
development  of  characters  that  belong  to  the  race  rather  than  to 
actual  difference  in  unit  characters. 

Some  races  are  so  rich  in  unit  characters  that  not  all  can 
develop  in  any  single  individual,  as,  for  example,  color  in  cattle. 


I  CO        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Some  of  the  units  are  present  in  a  high  degree,  and  these  are 
strongly  developed,  giving  the  visible  appearance  of  the  indi- 
vidual ;  others  are  present  in  low  degree,  remaining  undeveloped, 
and  out  of  evidence,  leaving  us  to  assume  their  absence. 

The  proof  that  every  individual  really  possesses  all  the  normal 
characters  of  the  race  is  the  fact  that  he  will  transmit  them  to 
his  young,  and  that  is  why  the  offspring  of  two  bay  horses  may 
be  something  else  than  bay.  When  such  an  offspring  is,  say, 
black,  we  assume  that  one  and  possibly  both  of  the  parents 
possessed  unit  characters  of  black  as  well  as  bay  ;  that  is  to  say, 
that  some  of  the  ancestors  were  black.  Not  only  that,  but  if  any 
of  the  ancestors  were  black,  we  assume  that  black  unit  characters 
are  present,  that  they  will  be  certainly  transmitted,  and  will  one 
day  crop  out. 

The  sire  will  transmit  milking  quality  as  well  as  the  cow, 
though  it  is  a  character  that  develops  only  in  the  female.  The 
truth  is  that  he,  as  well  as  the  female,  possesses  the  character, 
but  it  is  not  functional  in  his  case.  It  loses  nothing  by  this  fact, 
however,  in  transmission.  People  are  often  puzzled  to  account 
for  traits  of  character  that  outcrop  in  children,  but  were  notice- 
able in  neither  parent.  The  truth  is  that  all  ancestry  is  more 
or  less  mixed,  and  every  parent  can  be  counted  upon  to  trans- 
mit many  more  unit  characters  than  are  present  in  his  visible 
make-up.  This  is  reversion,  the  so-called  mystery  of  transmis- 
sion or  "  failure  of  heredity,"  as  it  is  often  erroneously  denomi- 
nated. It  is  no  failure  at  all,  for  real  unit  characters  are  all 
transmitted ;  whether  they  ever  develop  and  become  evident 
depends  upon  a  variety  of  circumstances,  chief  of  which  are 
their  relative  intensity  and  the  conditions  of  life  to  which  the 
individual  happens  to  be  subjected  during  development. 

Characters  developed  and  characters  latent.  As  has  just  been 
implied,  the  visible  personality  of  the  individual  depends  upon 
those  particular  characters  that  happen  to  have  developed,  and 
not  at  all  upon  that  other  and  extensive  possession  of  unde- 
veloped or,  as  they  are  called,  "latent"  characters.    The  term 


UNIT  CHARACTEB^  •     \  i''^]?f>,'  \\i^t: 

is  not  a  good  one.  They  are  latent  only  in  the  sense  that  they 
are  not  evident  except  as  they  outcrop  in  succeeding  generations, 
when,  with  other  blood  lines,  the  new  combinations  become 
sufficiently  strong  or  otherwise  favorable  to  bring  them  out. 
They  are  not  latent  in  the  sense  that  their  presence  cannot  be 
suspected.  If  we  examine  carefully  all  the  unit  characters  in 
any  race,  we  shall  know  positively  what  characters  will  be  pos- 
sessed by  the  descendants,  but  as  to  which  will  develop  and  give 
visible  evidence  of  their  presence  in  any  particular  individual 
we  cannot  predict.  We  shall  see  later,  however,  that  if  both 
sire  and  dam  are  black,  knowing  nothing  about  other  ancestry, 
the  offspring  will  stand  even  chances  of  being  black  also.  If  all 
the  grandparents,  however,  were  red,  the  offspring,  even  of 
black  parents,  would  stand  one  chance  in  four  of  being  red ;  or, 
what  is  the  same  thing,  one  fourth  of  all  such  offspring  would 
be  red  and  one  half  black,  with  the  other  one  fourth  unknown. 

Characters  dominant  and  characters  recessive.  Some  charac- 
ters are  dominant,  that  is,  strong  and  easily  seen,  while  others 
are  difficult  of  detection  or  easily  covered  up  and  obscured  by 
stronger  ones.  Thus,  in  flowers,  pink  is  easily  lost  in  red  ;  light 
blue,  in  purple ;  or  yellow,  in  green.  Small  size  is  obscured  by 
large  size,  and,  in  general,  certain  characters  are  much  more 
readily  seen  than  others.  Those  that  are  most  evident  are  called 
the  dominant,  as  distinct  from  the  recessive,  which  are  the  less 
evident.  Quite  aside  from  mere  visibility,  too,  certain  characters 
seem  more  likely  to  appear  in  crossed  forms  than  do  their  cor- 
responding but  equally  noticeable  characters  (see  the  discus- 
sion under  Mendel's  law  and  the  illustrations  of  guinea  pigs 
in  Chapter  XI). 

Correlation  of  characters.  ^  The  relations  between  the  many 
unit  characters  that  make  up  any  race  are  in  many  respects 
striking.  Certain  characters  move  together  in  the  relation  of 
cause  and  effect.  Such  characters  are  said  to  be  highly  corre- 
lated.   Certain  others  seem   naturally  opposed,  and  here  the 

1  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  chap.  xiii. 


j^?,        aC>MESTTGATHD  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

correlation  is  said  to  be  negative.  In  general,  while  characters 
are  more  or  less  indifferent  to  each  other,  there  is,  for  the  most 
part,  a  low  but  real  correlation.  Methods  of  calculating  this  cor- 
relation are  well  known  and  are  extensively  used  in  statistical 
studies,  but  are  rather  too  complicated  for  introduction  here  (see 
reference  to  "  Principles  of  Breeding  "  just  given). 


Fig.  1 6.   Albino  deer.    Specimen  owned  by  State  Museum,  Augusta,  Maine 

Lost  characters.  In  the  vicissitudes  of  time  and  selection 
characters  are  sometimes  lost.  Thus  the  whale,  which  is  a  true 
mammal,  like  the  cow,  and  which  once  lived  upon  the  land,  has 
lost  its  hind  legs  except  for  a  few  pelvic  bones.  Birds  have  lost 
one  ovary.  The  whole  snake  family  has  lost  one  lung,  and  all 
but  the  python  have  lost  all  traces  of  their  legs. 

Some  colors  are  the  result  of  pigment  formation.  This  quality 
is  often  lost,  resulting  sometimes  in  an  albino  individual,  as  in 


UNIT  CHARACTERS  1 03 

Fig.  16,1  or  of  an  entire  strain,  as  in  cattle  and  pigs,  and 
sometimes  in  a  modified  color,  due  to  the  absence  of  the 
definite  pigment. 

New  characters.  It  is  much  easier  to  understand  the  extinc- 
tion of  characters  and  species  than  it  is  to  account  for  the 
appearance  of  new  ones ;  indeed,  there  is  some  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  both  the  fauna  and  the  flora  of  the  world  are  getting 
simpler,  that  is,  so  far  as  numbers  of  species  are  concerned,  by 
which  is  meant  that,  in  all  likelihood,  species  are  becoming  ex- 
tinct faster  than  new  ones  are  appearing. 

However,  new  characters  are  appearing  and,  as  we  shall  see 
later,  new  strains  and  races,  equivalent  for  present  purposes  to 
new  species,  are  constantly  developing.  These  arise  sometimes 
through  the  loss  of  a  character,  but  often  by  some  new  combi- 
nations of  old  characters,  resulting  essentially  in  new  races. 
Good  examples  of  this  are  found  in  the  large  number  of  new 
strains  of  garden  flowers,  fruits,  and  vegetables,  each  with  some 
distinguishing  trait  that  is  especially  valuable. 

Characters  and  unit  characters.  A  distinction  must  be  here 
observed  for  the  sake  of  accuracy.  The  term  ''  character  "  is 
used  in  a  very  general  sense  to  cover  any  quality  or  faculty  of 
animal  or  plant  to  which  we  especially  desire  to  allude. 

For  example,  we  speak  of  the  quality  of  milk  production, 
which,  as  a  valuable  commercial  consideration  in  cattle,  may  be 
roughly  spoken  of  as  a  character.  Upon  reflection,  however,  it 
will  be  seen  that  it  is  not  a  tmit  character,  for  the  faculty  arises 
not  from  a  single  physiological  function  but  from  several ;  that 
is  to  say,  there  are  a  variety  of  facts  that  would  influence  milk 
production,  namely,  the  size  of  the  udder,  the  glandular  activity 
of  the  organ,  the  capacity  to  eat  and  digest  large  amounts  of 
food,  and  perhaps  a  number  of  others  unknown  to  us. 


^  Such  a  deer  would  of  course  have  little  chance  of  being  spared  either 
by  the  hunter  or  by  natural  enemies ;  hence  no  strain  of  albino  deer  can  de- 
velop. The  same  is  true  as  to  albinism  in  bears,  except  in  arctic  regions  where 
conditions  are  reversed. 


I04        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Now  it  is  evident  that  we  might  have  cows  with  good  udders 
and  indifferent  digestive  powers.  In  other  words,  milk  produc- 
tion is  conditioned  upon  a  number  of  minor  factors,  each  able  to 
behave  somewhat  independent  of  the  others  physiologically ;  that 
is,  to  behave  as  separate  unit  characters. 

The  term  "unit  character"  is  therefore  used  to  indicate  such 
fundamentally  physiological  elements  as  tend  to  behave  some- 
what independently  of  each  other  and  to  act  as  units  in  trans- 
mission froni  parent  to  offspring. 

How  these  units  are  transmitted  from  parent  to  offspring,  and 
how  they  behave  in  transmission,  is  the  subject  of  succeeding 
chapters. 

Summary.  Each  "  character  "  has  a  real  physiological  basis,  and  such 
an  ultimate  unit  of  variability  is  called  a  "  unit  character,"  In  common  par- 
lance we  often  use  the  term  "character"  for  what  must  be  the  resultant  of  a 
large  number  of  these  units,  as  when  we  speak  of  milk  production. 

These  unit  characters  are  sometimes  difficult  to  differentiate  and  identify, 
but  often  not ;  as,  for  example,  a  single  color  commonly  behaves  as  a  unit, 
while  temperament  and  the  more  complex  functions  are  evidendy  the  re- 
sultants of  many  units. 

Exercises.  1.  Make  a  list  of  the  color  characters  of  horses,  cattle,  sheep, 
pigs,  and  other  domestic  animals. 

2.  Make  a  list  of  the  characters  common  to  the  horse  and  the  cow ;  the 
pig  and  the  sheep ;  the  hen  and  the  goose ;  the  hen  and  the  pig.^ 

3.  Make  a  list  of  characters  possessed  by  the  one  but  not  by  the  other  of 
the  above  couplets.^ 

1  In  this  remember  that  character  means  any  physical  part  like  vertebra  or 
rib,  hoof  or  horn,  color  or  odor,  as  well  as  any  mental  trait  like  timidity  or 
fierceness,  docility  or  nervousness. 

2  Thus  while  the  hen  and  the  pig  both  have  round  eyes,  the  hen  has  feathers 
instead  of  bristles.    What  is  the  seeming  hair  on  the  hen  ? 


CHAPTER  VIII 
VARIABILITY  OF  A  SINGLE  CHARACTER  i 

Critical  study  of  a  single  character  •  Types  •  Plotting  the  frequency  curve  • 
The  mean  •  The  typical  individual  •  Variability  or  deviation  from  type  • 
Average  deviation  •  Standard  deviation  •  Coefficient  of  variability  •  Suggestions 
as  to  taking  measurements  •' Suggestions  as  to  grouping  •  Suggestions  as  to 
numbers  ■  Suggestions  as  to  taking  samples  •  Advantages  of  statistical  studies 

Critical  study  of  a  single  character.  We  have  seen  that  the 
individual  and  the  race  are  made  up  of  an  intimate  association 
of  semi-independent  units  called  characters.  Now,  owing  to  the 
differences  in  heredity  and  to  the  vicissitudes  of  development 
these  characters  are  themselves,  in  many  cases  at  least,  highly 
inconstant,  and  it  remains  to  study  next  the  variability  of  a 
single  unit  character  considered  by  itself  alone. 

Suppose  we  are  to  study  corn  characters  one  by  one,  as,  for 
example,  the  length  of  ears.  We  find  at  once  that  different  ears 
differ  greatly  in  this  respect.  How,  then,  shall  we  describe  this 
character  so  long  as  it  is  not  uniform  in  different  ears  ?  We  can 
do  it  only  by  first  ascertaining  the  tj/pe,  and  next  learning  what 
is  the  variability  or  deviation  from  this  type  with  respect  to 
length,  for,  of  course,  variabilities  differ  in  different  characters 
even  in  the  same  species.  It  is  the  business  of  the  present 
chapter  to  show  how  this  may  be  done. 

For  this  purpose  take  at  random,  that  is,  just  as  they  come 
from  the  field,  a  lot  of  ears,  say,  300  or  thereabouts.  Next  de- 
cide upon  a  scale  or  "  scheme  "  of  measurements  for  grouping.^ 

1  For  a  more  extended  study  see  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  chap.  xii. 

2  It  needs  some  practice  in  order  to  decide  upon  the  most  desirable  scheme 
for  any  particular  study.  It  is  found  that  for  length  half-inch  differences  give 
as  good  results  as  do  finer  measurements,  but  that  differences  of  one  inch 
fail  to  give  a  smooth  distribution.  With  half-inch  differences  the  distribution 
is  "  smooth,"  that  is,  the  numbers  increase  and  decrease  gradually. 

105 


Distribution  as  to 
Length 


Io6        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Then  measure  each  ear  and  record  it  opposite  the  figure  in 
the  scheme  that  comes  nearest  to  the  correct  measure  of  the 
ear.  When  all  the  ears  have  been  measured  and  the  lengths 
recorded,  you  will  have  results  similar  to  these  of  the  follow- 
ing table,  which  is  an  actual  case  -taken  from  a  field  of  Reed's 
Yellow  Dent,  crop  of  1906. 

By  this  we  ^ee  that  in  all  286  ears  were 
measured ;  that  our  scale  was  longer 
than  it  needed  to  be,  for  no  ear  was 
found  as  short  as  4  inches  or  as  long  as 
12  inches;  that  one  ear  was  5  inches 
long,  four  were  ^\  inches  long,  etc, ;  and 
that  the  number  gradually  rises  to  59  and 
then  as  gradually  declines,  so  that  ex- 
tremes of  length  are  represented  by  rela- 
tively few  ears. 

Types.  We  are  ready  now  to  arrive  at 
a  rational  conception  of  type.  The  most 
common  length  of  ear  is  not  5  inches  nor 
is  it  10  inches,  but  it  is  8 1^  inches,  because 
59  out  of  286  ears  were  nearer  that  length 
than  any  other.  This  is  therefore  the  most 
usual,  or,  as  we  say,  the  typical  length. 
This  is  not  saying  that  it  is  the  most  de- 
sirable length,  but  that  it  is  the  length 
most  commonly  found.^  Such  a  value  is 
called  the  mode,  and  we  say  that  8.5  inches  is  the  mode  of 
this  corn  as  to  length. 

Plotting  the  frequency  curve.  Such  a  lot  of  measurements 
is  technically  called  a  "  frequency  distribution"  or,  more  briefly, 
a  "distribution."  It  is  always  indicated  by  the  letter/,  as  is 
the  scheme  of  values  by  the  letter  V. 


V 

/ 

4.0 

4-5 

5-0 

I 

5-5 

4 

6.0 

6    - 

6.5 

7 

7.0 

19 

7:5 

'  3' 

8.0 

:>! 

8.5 

59 

9.0 

46 

9-5 

39 

1 0.0 

23 

10.5 

II 

II.O 

2 

"•5 

I 

12.0 

286 

*  That  is,  a  blindfolded  man  drawing  ears  at  random  would  draw  this  length 
oftener  than  any  other ;  or  if  one's  life  depended  upon  a  single  draw,  he  would 
stand  more  chances  by  drawing  this  than  any  other  length. 


VARIABILITY  OF  A  SINGLE  CHARACTER        107 

Frequency  distributions  are  always  characterized  by  a  gradual 
rise  to  the  mode  and  then  by  a  corresponding  fall.  This  "  slope  " 
of  the  frequency  is  best  brought  out  to  the  eye  by  the  system  of 
plotting,  in  which  the  distribution  is  put  into  the  form  of  a 
curve,  called  everywhere  the  frequency  curve  (see  Fig.  17). 

To  plot  this  curve  lay  off  the  horizontal  line  X^X,  and  erect 
(9 Fas  a  perpendicular.  Next  lay  off  distances  on  A^'A'both  ways 
from  (9,  corresponding  to  the  scheme  of  values,  and  erect  perpen- 
diculars from  each.  Then  lay  off  on  (9 Fa  distance  correspond- 
ing to  the  modal  value, — in  this  case  59,  —  and  on  each  of  the 


Y 

60  — 

•' 

50— 

/ 

^N^ 

^^N 

40  — 

,'\ 

■"~~>~ 

\ 

30  — 

--'' 

\ 

20- 

/ 

\ 

^S 

V 

10  — 

--r-T-]" 

1 — 

5.0 


G.5     7.0      7.5      8.0      O       9.0      9.5     10.0    10.5    11.0      11.5 
Fig.  17.    The  frequency  curve 


perpendiculars  a  distance  corresponding  to  the  number  it  repre- 
sents. Last  of  all,  connect  these  points  with  a  curved  line,  and 
this  line  will  be  the  so-called  curve  of  frequency,  which  is  a  true 
picture  of  the  variability  of  the  character  in  question. 

A  glance  at  Fig.  17  will  show  that  this  distribution  is  not 
quite  as  smooth  as  would  be  desired, — a  fault  that  would  be  cor- 
rected with  a  larger  number  of  ears,  in  which  case  the  slopes  of 
the  curve  would  be  more  regular  and  its  character  more  uniform. 

The  mean.  It  is  clear  that  two  populations  ^  might  have  the 
same  mode  but  with  very  different  distributions.  There  is  there- 
fore another  conception  of  type  quite  aside  from  the  highest 

1  "  Population  "  is  the  technical  term  for  the  group  of  individuals  studied, 
whether  corn  or  cattle  or  people.  In  the  present  instance  we  are  trying  to 
study  the  variability  as  to  length  of  ear  in  Reed's  Yellow  Dent,  which  is  the 
population,  by  means  of  a  supposedly  random  sample  of  286  ears  —  rather  too 
few  for  smooth  results,  but  upon  the  whole  fairly  satisfactory. 


Distribution  as  to  Length 

FINDING  THE    MeAN  ^ 


I08         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

frequency,  and  that  is  the  average  of  all  the  measurements, 
technically  called  the  mean.i  The  formula  for  the  mean  is 
2/F-J-  n  =  M?  In  words,  this  means  to  multiply  each  group  of 
the  frequency  distribution  (/)  by  its  corresponding  value  ( F),  add 

the  results,  and  divide  by  the  total 
number,  all  of  which  amounts  to 
the  adding  together  of  all  the 
lengths  as  originally  taken  and 
dividing  by  the  total  number.  It 
is  the  usual  operation  of  find- 
ing the  average,  known  to  every 
schoolboy,  but  it  is  best  done 
methodically,  and  the  method  is 
well  illustrated  by  the  case  in 
point,  as  shown  in  the  accom- 
panying table. 

By  this  we  see  that  the  aver- 
age ear  in  this  particular  case 
was  8.514  inches  long,  differing 
somewhat  from  the  mode  or  most 
frequent  length .  Either  the  mode 
or  the  mean  can  be  taken  as  the 
type,  according  to  the  needs  of 
the  case,  but  the  measure  most  commonly  accepted  as  best  rep- 
resenting the  type  is  the  mean  or  average  of  all. 

The  typical  individuaL    Having  determined  the  type  as  to  a 
single  character,  it  can  be  determined  in  the  same  way  for  any 


V 

/ 

fV 

5-0 

I 

5-0 

5-5 
6.0 

4 
6 

22.0 
36.0 

6.5 

7 

45-5 

7.0 

19 

133-0 

7-5 
8.0 

31 

232-5 
296.0 

8.5 
9.0 

59 
46 

501-5 
414.0 

9-5 

39 

370.5 

lO.O 

23 

230.0 

10.5 

II 

"5-5 

II.O 

2 

22.0 

"•5 

I 
2  286 

11-5 

S  2435.0 

2435.0 


286  =  8.514 

mean 


M,    the 


1  The  mean  is  to  be  distinguished  from  the  median,  which  is  the  middle- 
most ;  that  is  to  say,  if  these  286  ears  should  be  spread  out  in  a  row,  beginning 
with  the  shortest,  the  median  would  be  the  ear  at  the  middle  point,  with  as 
many  above  it  as  below  it  in  length.  As  our  number  is  even,  there  would  be 
no  true  median,  for  the  143d  ear  would  have  142  below  it  and  143  above  it. 
If  there  were  one  ear  less,  the  median  would  be  the  143d  ear,  and  its  length 
would  be  the  median  length. 

^  The  Greek  2  (capital  sip-fnf^)  ic  frHA>  iicn  .1  ,si<;n  of  addition  or  summation. 

^  Here  F  means  value,  as  before,/ means  lucnuiu  y,  and  //'means/ x  F, 
or  the  values  multiplied  by  their  respective  frequencies. 


^^> 


VARIABILITY  OF  A  SINGLE  CHARACTER 


109 


Distribution  as  to 

Weight  of  Ears 

IN  Ounces 


number  of  other  characters  that  can  be  measured,  weighed, 
counted,  or  in  any  other  way  accurately  determined.  Thus  the 
following  is  an  actual  distribution  as  to  weight  of  ears,  in  which 
the  character  is  measured  in  terms  of  ounces  instead  of  inches. 
Here  the  problem  deals  with  a  different  unit  of  value,  so  that 
V  now  stands  for  ounces,  while  /  stands  for  frequency,  as  be- 
fore. The  mode  in  this  distribution  is  9 
ounces  and  the  mean  8.807  ounces,  the 
derivation  of  which  is  left  for  the  student 
or  reader  by  the  methods  already  outlined. 

If  now  we  should  pick  an  ear  that  is 
8.514  inches  long  and  that  weighs  8.807 
ounces,  it  would  be  typical  both  as  to 
leitgth  and  weight.  So  in  the  same  way 
other  characters  could  be  determined, 
such  as  circumference,  number  of  rows, 
and  in  some  cases  even  color,  and  any  ear 
that  was  ''on  the  type  "  as  to  each  char- 
acter could  be  fairly  called  a  typical  ear. 

A  typical  individual  is,  therefore,  one 
that  is  typical,  or  average,  as  to  all  the 
characters  that  are  considered  important. 
Practical  experience  will  show  that  there 
are  very  few  typical  individuals  in  any 
species,  provided  very  many  characters 
are  considered. 

Variability  or  deviation  from  type.  But  the  average  gives  us 
only  partial  information  concerning  the  character  we  are  studying. 
It  gives  us  no  indication  of  the  spread  or  range  of  the  distribution, 
as  to  how  many  of  the  population  have  deviated  from  the  type,  or 
how  extensive  was  the  deviation ;  that  is,  the  average  gives  us  no 
measure  of  variability,  and  it  is  such  a  measure  that  we  now  seek. 

Average  deviation.  Referring  to  the  original  distribution  of 
length  of  ears,  let  us  consider  how  much  each  group  of  ears 
deviates  from  the  mean  or  average  length,  which  is  8.514—. 


V 

/ 

2 

3 

3 

8 

4 

II 

5 

16 

6 

24 

7 

28 

8 

32 

9 

39 

10 

Z^ 

II 

35 

12 

22 

13 

14 

14 

7 

15 

4 

16 

I 

S280 

Mean  =  8.807  ounces. 


no        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


Variability  as  to  Length  of 
Ear  —  Average  Deviation 


To  avoid  large  decimals  we  discard  the  last  figure  and  take  the 
mean  at  8.51.  From  this  mean  the  shortest  ear,  which  was  5 
inches  long,  deviated  3.51  inches,  the  next  group  of  four  each 

deviated  3.01  inches,  or  a 
total  deviation  of  4  x  3.01  = 
12.04.  Each  of  the  next 
group  of  six  deviated  2.51, 
equaling  15.06  in  all,  and  so 
on  for  all  the  groups.  It  is 
manifest  that  if  we  continue 
down  the  distribution  in  this 
way,  calculating  the  deviation 
for  each  group,  and  then  add 
all  together,  we  shall  have  the 
total  amount  by  which  all  the 
ears  deviated  from  the  length 
of  their  average,  ^nd  it  is 
equally  evident  that  if  this 
total  be  divided  by  the  num- 
ber of  ears,  we  shall  have  the 
avci-agc  deviation  of  these 
ears.  Such  an  average  is  a 
fair  measure  of  variability  with 
respect  to  the  character  length  in  this  particular  variety.    The 


V 

/ 

V-M^ 

f{V-M) 

5-0 

I 

-3-51 

3-51 

5-5 

4 

-3.01 

12.04 

6.0 

6 

-  2.51 

15.06 

6.5 

7 

—  2.01 

14.07 

7.0 

19 

-  I-5I 

28.69 

7-5 

31 

—  1. 01 

31-31 

8.0 

37 

-0.51 

18.87 

8.5 

59 

—  O.OI 

00.59 

9.0 

46 

0.49 

22.54 

9-5 

39 

0.99 

38.61 

1 0.0 

23 

1.49 

34-27 

10.5 

II 

1.99 

21.89 

I  I.O 

2 

2.49 

4.98 

II-5 

I 
S286 

2.99 

2.99 
2  249.42 

549.4: 


Mean  =  8.514 
286  =  0.872  +,  average 
deviation 


formula  would  read  as  follows  : 


^f{y-M) 


average  deviation  .^ 


The  process  is  carried  out  systematically^  in  the  table  above. 

1  All  deviations  below  the  mean  are  denoted  by  the  minus  sign.  In  calculat- 
ing deviation  by  this  method  these  signs  are  disregarded.  In  the  method  to  be 
next  described  these  deviations  are  squared  so  that  the  minus  signs  disappear 
naturally. 

2  In  words  this  formula  means  :  subtract  the  mean  from  each  of  the  values 
involved,  multiply  these  differences  by  their  respective  frequencies  (disre- 
garding the  minus  signs),  add  these  products,  and  divide  by  the  total  number 
in  the  frequency  distribution. 

'  In  all  work  of  this  kind  systematic  arrangement  is  desirable,  not  only  on 
the  score  of  neatness  but  of  accuracy  as  well. 


VARIABILITY  OF  A  SINGLE  CHARACTER        1 1 1 

Thisjgives  o.8.^^-.:4^asJLke.ay£ra2:e-amflunt.hv  which.  .ear&»fiL 
this_kind  of  corn-deviate -from  their  own  average  length.  It  is, 
therefore,  a  good  measure  of  variabiHty,  and,  taken  together 
with  the  average,  it  gives  us  a  good  measure  of  this  particular 
character,  because  it  tells  us  not  only  what  is  the  average  length, 
but  also  what  is  the  general  or  average  tendency  to  deviate  or 
depart  from  that  length.  In  other  words,  we  now  have  a  good 
measure  both  of  type  and  variability  for  this  single  character 
and  for  this  particular  population. 

Standard  deviation.  The  method  of  calculating  variability 
just  described  has  the  merit  of  brevity  and  simplicity,  but  it  so 
happens  that  mathematicians  prefer  a  slightly  different  method. 
This  difference  consists  only  in  squaring  the  several  deviations 
before  multiplying  by  their  respective  values,  thus  necessitating 
the   extraction  of  the  square  root  after  division  by  the  total 

number ;  thus  a  =  a^-^^^-^^ •  This  gives  a  slightly  dif- 
ferent value  for  variability,  which,  when  derived  by  this  method, 
is  called  "  standard  deviation "  and  is  denoted  by  the  small 
Greek  letter  a  (sigma).  The  method  of  systematically  calcu- 
lating standard  deviation  is  shown  in  the  table  on  page  112. 
The  disadvantage  of  standard  deviation  as  compared  with  aver- 
age deviation  is  in  the  additional  labor  involved  in  its  calculation, 
but  it  possesses  many  mathematical  advantages  in  the  solution 
of  complicated  problems.  It  is,  therefore,  thf>  <"^pr^fiSion  n^ii- 
versally  preferred  by  mathematicians.  As  the  two  results  differ, 
the  student  must  choose  between  them.  The  average  devia- 
tion is  so  seldom  used  that  it  is  given  only  as  a  means  of  ex- 
plaining standard  deviation  on  the  common-sense  ^  basis,  and  not 
because  it  will  be  used  by  the  student.  It  is  better  in  every  way 
to  follow  custom  in  this  matter  and  use  the  standard  deviation. 


1  Mathematicians  have  a  habit  of  appealing  wherever  possible  to  the  in- 
stincts of  "  common  sense  "  to  evidence  the  reason  for  many  things  which,  if 
absolutely  demonstrated,  would  often  require  complicated  formulae  and  much 
abstract  reasoning. 


112         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


Variability  as  to  Length  of  Ear  —  Standard  Deviation 


V 

/ 

V-M 

{V-MY 

nv-M)^ 

50 

, 

-3-51 

12.31 +  1 

12.31 

5-5 

4 

-3.01 

9.06  + 

36.24 

6.0 

6 

-  2.51 

6.30  + 

37.80 

6.5 

7 

—  2.01 

4-04  + 

28.28* 

7.0 

19 

-  I-5I 

2.28  + 

43-32 

7.5 

31 

—   I.OI 

1.02  + 

31-62 

8.0 

yi 

-0.51 

0.26  + 

9.62 

8.5 

59 

—  O.OI 

0.00 

9.0 

46 

0.49 

0.24  + 

11.04 

9-5 

39 

0.99 

0.98  + 

38.22 

1 0.0 

23 

1.49 

2.22  + 

51.06 

10.5 

II 

1.99 

3-96  + 

43-56 

II.O 

2 

2.49 

6.20 

12.40 

"•5 

I 
286 

2.99 

8.94 

8.94 
364.41 

Mean  =  8.514. 
Vi-2742  =  1. 13 


364.41  --  286=  1.2742. 
standard  deviation  (<r). 


This  standard  deviation  is  considered,  therefore,  as  the  uni- 
versal measure  of  variabiHty,  and  the  student  will  do  well  to 
work  these  values  with  original  measurements  until  they  come 
to  have  a  real  meaning.  After  this  has  been  done  for  a  time 
_staiidard[  deviation  will  express  as  much  about  variability  as  does 
the  radius  about  a  circle. 

Coefficient  of  variability.  But  one  further  step  is  necessary 
in.  the  mathematical  study  of  variability.  The  mean  length  of 
ear  in  this  case  was  8.514  inches,  and  its  variability,  that  is,  its 
standard  deviation,  was  i .  1 3  inches ;  the  mean  weight  of  ear 
was  8.807  ounces,  and  the  standard  deviation  was  2.854  ounces. 

How  now  can  we  compare  variability  in  inches  with  varia- 
bility in  ounces  t  In  other  words,  how  can  we  tell  whether 
this  corn  is  more  variable  with  respect  to  length  than  it  is  with 
respect  to  weight,  or  vice  versa }    We  cannot  tell  by  direct 

1  The  plus  sign  denotes  that  decimals  are  dropped. 


VARIABILITY  OF  A  SINGLE  CHARACTER 


13 


comparison  of  the  two  standard  deviations,  because  variability 
in  one  case  is  expressed  in  terms  of  inches  and  in  the  other  in 
terms  of  ounces. 

If,  however,  each  of  the  standard  deviations  be  divided  by  its 
mean  as  a  base,  then  the  quotients  can  be  directly  compared. 
Thus  1 .  1 3  -^  8.5 14  =  0.1 327,  or,  as  it  is  more  commonly  written, 
13.27,  meaning  thereby  13.27  per  cent ;  and  2.854  h-  8.807  =^ 
32.41,  showing  that  the  corn  is  much  more  variable  with  respect 
to  weight  than  it  is  with  respect  to  length.  Such  a  quotient  — 
standard  deviation  divided  by  its  mean  —  is  known  as  the  coeffi- 
cient of  variability,  and,  being  entirely  an  abstract  number,  it 
serves  as  a  basis  on  which  the  variabilities  of  any  two  distribu- 
tions may  be  directly  compared,  whether  dealing  in  terms  of 
inches  or  ounces,  feet  or  pounds  or  numbers,  and  whether  the 
individuals  involved  are  ears  of  corn,  pounds  of  milk,  bushels  of 
grain,  or  any  other  races  or  characters  where  differences  can  be 
weighed,  counted,  or  otherwise  measured.  The  footnote^  gives 
a  few  coefficients  of  variability  for  human  measurements. 

By  the  methods  here  outlined,  any  character  or  characters 
may  be  accurately  studied  as  to  both  type  and  variability,  pro- 
vided the  character  can  be  accurately  measured  in  some  way,  and 
provided  also  that  sufficient  numbers  can  be  found  to  make  the 
distribution  fairly  smooth. 

It  remains  to  offer  suggestions  as  to  certain  details  that  are 
encountered  in  studies  of  this  sort,  and  on  which  the  student 
needs  further  information. 

Suggestions  as  to  taking  measurements.  In  the  scale  just 
used,  the  measurements  of  corn  were  taken  one  half  inch  apart 
and  the  weights  in  ounces.    Why  ?    Why  were  not  the  lengths 


4 


Nose  length      .     .    , 

.      9.49 

Head  breadth    .... 

.    .    2.78 

Nose  breadth    .     .    , 

•      7-57 

Upper-arm  length      .     . 

.    .    6.50 

Nose  height      .    .    . 

.    15.20 

Forearm  length     .    .     . 

■    •    3-85 

Forehead  height  .     . 

.    10.40 

Upper-leg  length  .    .    . 

.    .    5.00 

Under-jaw  length 

.      4.81 

Lower-leg  length  .    .    . 

.    .    5.04 

Mouth  breadth      .    . 

.      5-i8 

Foot  length 

.    .    5.92 

Head  length     ... 

.      2.44 

114        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

taken  to,  say,  one  quarter  inch  and  the  weights  more  accurately  ? 
The  answer  is  that  experience  has  shown  that  these  are  suffi- 
ciently accurate,  and  if  the  measurements  had  been  taken  finer, 
say  to  the  quarter  inch,  the  labor  of  calculating  would  have  been 
doubled,  and  all  without  altering  or  improving  results  in  any 
substantial  way.  What,  now,  is  to  decide  the  question  as  to 
accuracy  of  measurements  ? 

Speaking  generally,  the  object  is  not  so  much  to  get  accurate 
measurements  of  all  the  individuals  as  such,  as  it  is  to  make 
them  comparable  one  with  others  ;  and  it  will  be  found  by  trial 
that  measurements  taken  to  the  half  inch  in  length  of  ears  of 
corn,  for  example,  will  give  practically  the  same  results  as  those 
taken  at  a  closer  measure,  as  one  fourth  or  one  eighth  of  an 
inch.  Not  only  is  this  true,  but  it  is  practically  impossible  to  get 
the  length  of  an  ear  of  corn  correctly  within  an  eighth  of  an 
inch,  as  will  be  found  by  trial. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  we  should  take  the  measurements  only 
to  one  inch,  they  would  be  too  far  apart  for  smooth  distributions. 
The  best  easy  test  of  the  measurement  to  be  chosen  for  "class" 
grouping,  as  it  is  called,  is  whether  it  gives  a  fairly  ''  smooth  " 
distribution.  A  glance  at  the  distribution  of  length  or  of  weight 
of  ears  will  show  that  the  figures  slope  off  each  way  from  the 
middle  at  a  fairly  uniform  rate  without  any  sudden  break  and 
without  any  number  being  greater  than  its  neighbor  nearer  the 
middle.  This  is  the  best  test  of  sufficient  accuracy.  In  order  to 
save  labor  the  measurement  will  be  taken  as  "  coarse  "  as 
possible,  but  not  so  coarse  as  to  break  up  the  smoothness  of  the 
distribution  or  to  make  the  groups  too  few.  A  little  experience 
soon  develops  a  judgment  at  this  point  which  is  better  than 
anything  that  can  be  learned  by  instruction  ;  but  with  all  the  ex- 
perience of  experts  some  trials  have  to  be  made  whenever  a 
new  problem  is  taken,  in  order  to  determine  the  most  desirable 
"  scheme  of  measurements." 

Suggestions  as  to  grouping.  After  the  scheme  of  measure- 
ment has  been  decided  —  as  inches,  half  inches,  ounces,  pounds, 


VARIABILITY  OF  A  SINGLE  CHARACTER        115 

feet,  or  what  not  —  and  the  ''class  marks''^  fixed,  then  the 
student  is  ready  for  measurements.  The  next  question  is  where 
to  record  the  various  individuals  measured.  For  example,  sup- 
pose in  measuring  corn  we  have  adopted  the  scheme,  4.0,  4.5, 
5.0,  5.5,  6.0,  6.5,  7.0,  7.5,  etc.  We  will  rarely  find  an  ear  that 
measures  exactly  on  the  even  inch  or  half  inch.  Most  of  them 
will  fall  somewhere  between  these  various  marks  and  will  need 
to  be  assigned  to  one  group  or  another  somewhat  arbitrarily. 
Now  the  rule  is  to  assign  to  the  nearest  group.  Thus  suppose 
an  ear  measures  7|  inches;  it  would  be  put  into  the  7.0-inch 
class  because  it  is  nearer  7  inches  than  it  is  to  any  other  measure- 
ment of  our  scheme.  Should  it  measure  6|  inches,  it  would 
also  go  into  the  7.0-inch  class,  and  in  doing  so  it  would  correct 
the  slight  error  made  in  putting  the  other  ear  into  a  class  too 
short  for  it.  On  the  principle  that  as  many  will  be  too  long  as 
will  be  too  short,  we  depend  upon  the  law  of  chance  ^  to  keep 
our  errors  even. 

On  the  same  principle,  if  the  ear  should  read  7|,  it  would  go 
into  the  7. 5 -inch  class;  but  if  it  should  be  7|,  it  would  stand 
exactly  halfway  between  the  two  classes,  and  here  a  careful  de- 
cision must  be  made  as  to  where  it  should  be  put.  As  it  stands 
midway  between  7  and  7.5  there  are  no  more  reasons  for  its 
going  one  way  than  the  other,  and  in  choosing  a  scheme  of 
measurements  it  is  well  to  avoid  a  scale  that  is  likely  to  make 
too  many  fall  upon  this  middle  point. 

There  are  but  two  things  to  be  done  with  these  midclass 
measures.  They  can  all  be  put  into  the  class  above  them,  on 
the  principle  of  the  business  man  that  calls  half  a  cent  a  whole 
cent  and  then  discards  all  smaller  fractions  ;  or,  what  is  more 
accurate,  every  alternate  measurement  of  this  kind  may  be  put 
once  above  and  next  below;  that  is,  the  first  time  a  7.25 
measurement  occurs  it  may  be  called  7.5,  and  then,  to  offset  the 

1  The  class  marks  are  the  various  measurements,  as  4  inches,  4.5  inches, 
5  inches,  etc.,  that  make  up  the  scheme  of  measurements. 

2  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  p.  365. 


/ 


Il6        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

error,  it  may  be  called  an  even  7  the  next  time  it  occurs.  The 
only  trouble  with  this  plan  is  the  difficulty  of  keeping  account 
of  the  many  assignments.  It  is  much  easier  to  always  put  them 
in  the  class  above  (or  below,  if  the  worker  prefers),  but  a  slight 
error  is  introduced,  affecting,  of  course,  the  mean,  to  raise  or  to 
lower  it,  though  ever  so  slightly.  In  all  but  the  best  work  it  is 
better  to  admit  this  error  than  to  keep  an  accurate  account  of 
the  alternate  assignment  of  the  midclass  measurements. 

One  more  caution  must  be  mentioned  in  connection  with 
grouping  measurements.  Suppose  we  have  a  series  running,  we 
will  say,  as  follows :  10,  1 1,  1 2,  1 3,  etc.,  up  to  50.  If  now  we  take 
them  as  they  are,  there  will  be  some  forty-one  different  groups, 
involving  immense  and  unnecessary  labor.  The  thing  to  do  is  to 
combine  them  into  fewer  groups,  but  in  doing  so  it  is  important 
to  observe  great  care  in  choosing  the  scheme  for  grouping. 

For  example,  suppose  we  attempt  to  group  them  as  follows  : 
10,  14,  18,  22,  etc.,  reducing  them  to  one  fourth  of  the  original 
number.  What,  now,  will  be  the  result  ?  Consider  the  numbers, 
for  instance,  between  14  and  18.  What  is  to  be  done  with  them.? 
That  is,  how  are  the  numbers  represented  by  15,  16,  and  17  to 
be  recognized  in  our  new  scheme  ?  It  will  be  noticed  at  once 
that  we  have  chosen  a  scheme  with  t/iree  values  between.  Of 
these  three  values,  1 5  will  of  course  go  down  with  its  new  class 
mark,  14 ;  and  17  will  go  up  to  18.  But  what  is  to  become  of 
16  ?  Whichever  way  we  put  it  the  result  will  be  to  distort  the 
distribution  and  prevent  its  being  smooth  ;  that  is,  it  will  put 
sudden  humps  and  high  spots  into  it,  like  saw  teeth,  that  arise 
not  from  the  variability  in  the  true  measurements  but  in  the 
error  introduced  in  the  manner  of  grouping  them. 

The  better  way  would  be  to  choose  a  new  scheme  with  an 
even  number  between  the  new  values.  For  example,  suppose 
we  choose  the  following:  10,  15,  20,  25,  30,  etc.  Now  there 
are  four  values  between  20  and  25,  namely,  21,  22,  23,  24,  of 
which  two  can  go  up  to  25  and  two  go  down  to  20,  thus  keep- 
ing true  relative  values  and  insuring  a  smooth  distribution. 


VARIABILITY  OF  A  SINGLE  CHARACTER        117 

All  this  means  that  in  choosing  schemes  of  measurements 
and  assigning  values  to  class  groups  care  must  always  be  taken 
that  the  assignments  are  fair  as  between  groups,  in  which  case 
the  distribution  will  be  smooth  and  fairly  representative  of  the 
population,  all  of  which  is  far  more  important  than  is  extreme 
accuracy  in  individual  measurements. 

Suggestions  as  to  numbers.  The  number  of  cases  needed  is 
a  rather  difficult  matter  without  getting  involved  in  the  question 
of  probable  error, ^  which  is  too  complicated  for  consideration 
here.  In  general,  large  numbers  are  necessary.  For  work  in 
corn  200  to  300  give  good  results,  and  in  most  ordinary  prob- 
lems this  number  answers  very  well.  For  extreme  accuracy  and 
for  certain  classes  of  problems  much  larger  numbers  are  needed, 
but  problems  of  that  character  involve  considerations  that  are 
outside  of  our  present  purpose,  which  is  to  acquaint  the  student 
with  the  ordinary  operations  of  statistical  work. 

Suggestions  as  to  taking  samples.  When  a  comparatively 
small  number  of  individuals  (200  to  500)  is  to  be  taken  as  rep- 
resentative of  the  entire  race  to  which  they  belong,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  the  sample  be  carefully  chosen.  It  should  be  what  is 
called  a  ''  random  sample."  That  does  not  mean  a  careless 
sample  taken  without  regard  to  obvious  differences,  but  it  means 
a  fair  and  representative  sample.  If  the  corn,  for  example,  is 
husked  and  in  a  pile,  there  would  be  no  better  way  than  to 
shovel  up  the  sample,  taking  whatever  the  scoop  might  deliver. 
But  if  the  corn  is  in  the  stalk,  the  matter  is  different.  If  the 
ears  are  to  be  picked  off,  they  must  all  be  taken  for  a  given 
area,  for  no  man  can  be  trusted  to  sort  fairly,  and  areas  enough 
must  be  taken  to  fairly  represent  the  field. 

Again,  suppose  one  portion  of  the  field  is  good,  but  that  the 
corn  in  the  low  ground  is  partially  drowned  out,  and  the  ears,  of 
course,  are  small.  In  this  case  the  proper  proportion  of  the  poor 
corn  must  be  included  or  the  result  can  be  considered  as  repre- 
sentative only  of  the  good  portion  of  the  field. 

1  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  pp.  437-440. 


Il8        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


Advantages  of  statistical  studies.  From  the  standpoint  of 
improvement,  however,  these  methods  give  the  breeder  an 
opportunity  to  study  characters  carefully,  to  know  their  average 
value  and  the  extent  of  their  variability.  Not  only  that,  but 
records  kept  from  year  to  year  will  show  the  breeder  what 
progress,  if  any,  he  is  making,  and  to  what  extent,  if  at  all,  the 
animal  or  plant  is  responding  to  his  selection. ^ 

Exercises.  The  student  may  well  have  much  practice  in  solving  distribu- 
tions for  mean,  standard  deviation,  and  coefficient  of  variability.  Eight 
actual  distributions  are  appended,  five  in  length  and  three  in  ounces,  but 
the  student  should  have  practice  in  taking  his  own  measurements  and  in 
making  his  own  scheme  and  grouping.  These  different  distributions  arise 
from  different  varieties  or  from  different  conditions  of  growth. 


Length  of  ear 

Length  of  ear 

Weight  of  ear 

V  !  / 

/ 

V 

/ 

/ 

/ 

V 

/   !   / 

/ 

in. 

in. 

oz. 

2.5 

I 

3-0 

I 

I 

30 

3 

2 

3-5 

2 

5 

4 

3 

3-5 

I 

3 

4.0 

I 

5 

3 

8  i   9 

8 

4.0 

I 

5 

4-5 

I 

I 

6 

4 

16    1    II 

II 

4-5 

2 

8 

5-0 

2 

3 

8 

5 

24 

26 

16 

5-0 

7 

10 

5-5 

5 

7 

18 

6 

24 

3^ 

24 

5-5 

II 

M 

6.0 

8 

12 

41 

7 

38 

40 

28 

6.0 

II 

29 

6.5 

10 

21 

54 

8 

41 

39 

32 

6.5 

24 

33 

7.0 

15 

33 

n 

9 

35 

37 

39 

7.0 

Zl 

54 

7-5 

25 

56 

65 

10 

27 

32 

36 

7.5 

38 

59 

8.0 

46 

79 

52 

II 

24 

17 

35 

8.0 

68 

47 

8.5 

47 

68 

30 

12 

II 

^3 

22 

8.5 

72 

38 

9.0 

44 

55 

12 

13 

7 

8 

14 

9.0 

61 

20 

9-5 

32 

21 

3 

14 

2 

3 

7 

9-5 

33 

5 

1 0.0 

12 

3 

I 

15 

2 

4 

10.0 

19 

lo.s 

5 

2 

16 

I 

10.5 

8 

II. 0 

"•5 
12.0 

4 

397 

327 

258 

362 

368 

a64 

271 

280 

M=  8.015  M=  7. 141 
o-=  1.348  <r=  1.267 
C=  16.82    C=  17.74 


M=  8.322  M=  7.965  M=  7.063 
<r=  1.217  <'■=  1.018  <r=  1.070 
0=14.62     0=12.78    0=15.15 


M=  7.901  M=  7.860  M=  8.807 
tT=  2.657  «'■=  2-593  »■=  a-854 
0=33.63     0=3a.98     C=  32.41 


1  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  pp.  434,  435. 


VARIABILITY  OF  A  SINGLE  CHARACTER 


119 


Circumference  of  ear 

2 

Number  of 

rows  on  cob 

F' 

/ 

f 

/ 

V 

/ 

f 

/ 

4-5 

I 

2 

10 

I 

4.8 

2 

5 

I 

12 

6 

2 

7 

5-1 

15 

13 

r 

14 

25 

28 

51 

54 

28 

•9 

9 

16 

85 

11 

99 

57 

46 

29 

27 

18 

103 

115 

79 

6.0 

70 

48 

50 

20 

59 

81 

27 

6.3 

58 

80 

67 

22 

26 

26 

18 

6.6 

50 

67 

89 

24 

8 

I 

I 

6.9 

34 

58 

85 

26 

I 

4 

7.2 

5 

18 

23 

28 

I 

7-5 

I 

5 

13 

7.8 

I 

8.1 

I 

310 

344 

367 

313 

335 

283 

M  =:  17.91 1  M  =  18.107  M  =  16.869 
(r=  2.501  0-=  2.417  cr=  2.377 
C  =  13.96     C  =:  13.35     C  =  14.09 


M  =  6.121  M  =  6.304  M  =  6.505 
(J-  =  0.530  <j  =  0.579  cr  =  0.499 
C  =  8.66     C  =  9.i8     C  =  6.9o 


Original  problems.  Besides  the  solving  of  distributions  given 
in  the  text,  the  student  should  have  practice  in  devising  and 
solving  problems  of  his  own.  I  know  of  no  better  method  of 
teaching  variability,  and  at  the  same  time  insuring  rational 
conceptions  of  heredity,  than  by  this  methodical  and  accurate 
study  of  characters  taken  singly. 

For  this  purpose  the  student  may  use  not  only  dimensions 
like  length  and  circumference,  but  he  may  use  weights  and  num- 
bers. He  may  take  the  heights  of  pupils  in  the  school,  the 
grades  they  make  in  classes,  or  he  may  take  the  yield  of  milk 
of  many  cows,  or  the  weights  of  milk  at  the  creamery.  Anything 

1  Experience  shows  that  it  is  better  to  take  values  by  0.25  instead  of  0.30; 
thus,  4.50,  4.75,  5.00,  5.25,  etc.  These  distributions  were  made  smooth  only 
by  careful  assignment  of  alternate  measurements.  This  scheme  of  grouping 
has  been  discarded  for  this  reason. 

2  Below  each/ column  will  be  found  the  corresponding  values.  Thus  of  the 
first  frequency,  footing  310,  the  M  =  6.121,  the  <t  =  0.530,  and  the  C  =  8.66. 
In  this  way  the  answers  can  be  identified  for  each  problem  contained  in  these 
tables. 


I20        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

that  is  variable,  and  where  variabiUty  can  be  accurately  meas- 
ured, will  afford  a  problem  in  statistical  determination. 

Milk  and  Fat  from  1200  Cows  in 
Illinois  Dairies  ^ 


Milk 


V 

/ 

V 

/ 

1,500 

10 

25 

2 

2,500 
3'5oo 
4,500 

59 

178 
256 

75 
125 

175 

22 
297 

5.500 
6,500 

253 
209 

225 
275 

349 
224 

7,500 
8,500 
9,500 

131 
63 

28 

325 
375 
425 

72 
39 
17 

10,500 

10 

475 

4 

11,500 

2 

525 

I 

12,500 

I 
1200 

1200 

M=55i5 

M  =  218.25 

a—  1770.1 

<r=    71.794 

C=      32.11 

C=    32.90 

The  solution  of  the  problem  on  milk  and  fat  tells  us  that 
cows  vary  among  themselves  1770  pounds  of  milk  and  over  71 
pounds  of  fat  per  year,  but  that  the  real  variability  of  the  two 
characters  is  practically  identical —  32.11  and  32.90. 

References.    1.  "  Principles  of  Breeding  "  (chap.  xii).    Davenport. 
2.  "  Statistical  Methods."    C.  B.  Davenport. 

1  From  the  records  of  the  dairy  department  of  the  University  of  IlHnois ; 
data  collected  by  Professor  Fraser. 


CHAPTER  IX 

HOW  CHARACTERS  ARE  TRANSMITTED 

Every  species  of  its  own  kind  •  The  machinery  of  transmission  •  Fertiliza- 
tion •  Fertilization    in    general  •  The    material    transmitted  •  Chromosomes  • 
Development,  or  growth  and  differentiation  •  Termination  to  growth 

The  facts  brought  out  in  the  last  chapter  show  that  many  of 
the  differences  between  individuals  arise  from  variability  in  the 
degree  of  development  of  a  single  character,  and  that  much 
opportunity  for  improvement  lies  in  this  field  of  selection. 

There  is,  however,  another  and  a  greater  cause  of  individual 
differences,  and  that  is  in  the  particular  unit  characters  present. 
For  example,  everybody  would  recognize  that  there  is  more  dif- 
ference between  a  small  draft  horse  and  a  racer  than  between 
the  small  drafter  and  a  larger  one  of  the  same  type. 

This  brings  us  to  a  study  of  the  transmission  of  unit  char- 
acters with  a  view  to  their  control  between  parent  and  offspring 
for  the  purposes  of  improvement.  The  manner  of  this  trans- 
mission, it  will  be  seen,  is  the  controlling  factor  in  heredity  and 
affords  the  principal  basis  for  improvement. 

Every  species  of  its  own  kind.  In  a  later  chapter  heredity 
and  environment  will  be  discussed,  but  here  it  is  sufficient  to 
call  attention  to  the  very  large  and  obvious  fact  that  whatever 
the  influence  of  environment,  the  differences  between  individ- 
uals are  not  only  great  but  inherent. 

A  kernel  of  corn  and  a  kernel  of  wheat  may  be  planted  side 
by  side  in  the  same  soil.  If  the  soil  be  fertile  and  the  season 
favorable,  the  crop  will  be  good.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  soil 
be  poor  or  the  season  bad,  then  the  crop  will  be  small,  but  the 
one  will  be  com  and  the  other  tvheat  in  either  case  ;  all  of  which 
is  but  another  way  of  saying  that  the  real  nature  of  the  plant  or 


122         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

the  animal  is  not  in  the  environment,  but  is  inherent  in  the 
organism,  the  development  being  influenced  but  not  determined 
by  the  conditions  of  life. 

This  particular  nature  which  makes  corn  to  be  corn  and  not 
wheat,  and  wheat  to  be  wheat  and  not  barley,  —  this  particular 
nature  was  implanted  by  the  ancestry  and  will  be  transmitted  to 
the  descendants,  in  varying  degrees  perhaps,  but  yet  true  to 
nature  if  not  absolutely  true  to  type  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  descend- 
ants of  corn  will  be  corn  and  not  wheat,  for,  as  we  have  already 
noted,  every  individual  will  transmit  all  the  characters  of  his 
race  atid  no  others. 

The  machinery  of  transmission.  How,  now,  is  this  effected  ? 
How  can  the  particular  traits  or  unit  characters  that  distinguish 
corn  from  wheat,  or  perhaps  one  kind  of  corn  from  another, — how 
can  these  specific  differences,  sometimes  slight,  be  carried  over 
and  appear  again  with  more  or  less  exactness  in  the  offspring  ? 

To  one  accustomed  to  seeing  everything  producing  after  its 
kind,  it  all  seems  very  natural,  not  to  say  inevitable,  that  this 
should  be  so ;  but  the  more  the  matter  is  studied  the  more 
difficult  it  becomes,  and  no  subject  in  the  realm  of  living 
matter  is  to-day  giving  scientists  more  trouble  than  this  very 
one  of  transmission. 

Whoever  will  take  the  trouble  to  visit  a  cornfield  just  after 
it  is  coming  into  tassel  will  have  the  opportunity  of  observing 
nature  at  work  about  some  of  its  most  important  business. 

First  of  all,  he  will  see  the  embryo  ear  about  halfway  up  the 
stalk,  with  a  long  fringe  of  tender  "  silk  "  pushing  out  from  the 
end  and  after  a  time  growing  longer  and  dangling  in  the  wind. 
If  now  the  husks  be  carefully  stripped  down,  the  embryo  cob 
will  be  discovered,  and  it  will  be  found  that  each  particular  silk 
runs  down  and  is  attached  separately  and  independently  to  a 
definite  spot,  which  will  one  day,  if  all  goes  well,  become  a  new 
kernel  of  corn. 

Now,  if  all  does  go  well,  the  silk  will,  after  a  few  days,  wither 
away,  the  spot  on  the  cob  at  its  base  will  begin  to  grow,  and  will 


HOW  CHARACTERS  ARE  TRANSMITTED 


123 


in  good  time  develop  into  a  single  kernel  of  corn  ;  but  if  all 
does  not  go  well,  the  silk  will  grow  longer  for  a  time,  and  finally 
wither  away,  but  the  kernel  will  not  develop,  and  nothing  but  a 
bare  cob  will  be  found  at  husking  time.  What  is  it  that  decides 
whether  there  is  to  be  or  is  not  to  be  a  kernel  ?  The  answer 
to  that  question  involves  the  whole  machinery  of  transmission. 

Every  farmer  boy  knows 
that  at  the  top  of  the  stalk 
is  the  tassel,  and  that  this 
tassel  has  the  habit  at  times 
of  shedding  large  amounts 
of  yellow  powder,  particu- 
larly after  a  rain  or  in  the 
still  hours  of  the  early  morn- 
ing after  a  warm  but  quiet 
night.  Most  farmer  boys 
know  that  in  some  way  this 
golden-yellow  dust,  or  "pol- 
len," is  connected  with  the 
crop,  but  few  of  them  know 
in  just  what  way. 


Fig.  18.  Ear  covered  for  ten  days  with  a 
paper  sack  preventing  fertilization.  The 
silk  remained  fresh  and  continued  to  grow. 
It  has  been  known  to  reach  a  length  of 
two  feet  while  awaiting  the  pollen 


If  we  use  a  microscope  to  magnify  size,  and  see  exactly  what 
is  involved  and  what  is  going  on,  it  would  be  somewhat  as 
follows  : 

First  of  all,  the  silk  would  be  found  to  be  soft  and  pulpy 
throughout  its  entire  length,  somewhat  "  sticky  "  and  branched 
at  the  top  or  outer  end,  and  connected  at  the  base  with  a  single 
cell,  called  an  ovule. ^  Now  this  ovule  is  the  important  part,  for 
it  is  what  develops  into  the  kernel  of  corn  if  all  goes  well. 


1  A  "  cell  "  is  the  structural  unit  of  the  plant  or  animal.  As  a  building  is 
made  of  bricks,  so  the  plant  or  animal  body  is  made  up  of  cells  or  sacks  filled 
with  a  semifluid  matter  known  as  protoplasm,  which  is  a  kind  of  general  name 
for  the  material  of  different  parts  of  the  body ;  that  is  to  say,  the  protoplasm 
of  muscle,  whose  business  it  is  to  contract,  is  quite  different  from  the  proto- 
plasm of-  liver,  whose  business  it  is  to  manufacture  a  definite  secretion.  The 
cells  of  different  parts  of  the  body  structure  contain,  therefore,  very  different 


124        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

It  will  be  found  that  the  characteristic  thing  which  normally 
happens  is  this  :  one  of  the  little  particles  of  yellow  dust  drops 
upon  the  sticky  tip  of  the  silk,  adheres,  and  begins  at  once  to 
grow,  not  upward  like  a  seed,  but  dow7i  the  silk  throughout  its 
entire  length  to  the  ovule  at  its  base. 

Now  the  pollen  grain  is  itself,  like  the  ovule,  a  sex  cell,  though 
a  very  small  one,  with  its  nucleus  and  its  surrounding  protoplasm. 
The  latter  is  consumed  during  the  progress  down  the  silk,  but 
the  nucleus  descends  until  it  reaches  and  unites  with  the  nucleus 
of  the  ovule. 

Fertilization.  This  is  fertilization,  after  which  the  ovule, 
which  would  otherwise  wither  away,  is  capable  of  developing 
into  a  kernel  of  corn,  which  will  be  pure  or  mixed  as  to  its  unit 
characters  according  as  the  two  nuclei  that  blended  for  its 
development  were  of  the  same  or  of  different  parentage. 

The  unit  characters  of  the  parents  are  undoubtedly  contained 
in  the  two  nuclei,  and  these  are  what  decide  the  character  of  the 
offspring.  It  seems  inconceivable  that  so  small  a  bit  of  matter 
as  a  pollen  grain  or  the  nucleus  of  the  ovule,  each  far  smaller 
than  the  head  of  a  pin,  can  carry  so  many  and  such  profound 
potentialities  ;  but  the  character  of  these  two  nuclei  alone  deter- 
mine whether  the  kernel  shall  be  white,  yellow,  or  mixed,  sweet, 
field,  or  pop  corn.  If  both  are  from  white  parents,  then  the  ker- 
nel will  be  white  and  will  transmit  white  characters  only ;  but  if 
one  be  from  a  white  parent  and  the  other  from  a  yellow,  then 
the  kernel  will  be  mixed  and  will  in  its  turn  transmit  both  white 
and  yellow  characters.  Corresponding  results  will  follow  if  one 
should  be  field  or  pop  corn  and  the  other  should  be  sweet  corn. 

Moreover,  this  kernel,  whatever  its  parentage,  may  afterward 
*'  grow  "  and  in  its  turn  give  rise  to  an  entire  new  corn  plant, 

kinds  of  protoplasm,  each  with  its  own  particular  function  to  discharge.  These 
cells  lie  closely  packed  together,  like  rubber  bags  filled  with  thickened  water, 
and  near  the  center  of  each  is  its  "  nucleus,"  which  is  its  densest  portion  and 
the  part  which  takes  the  initiative  in  cell  division  and  growth.  If  it  happens 
to  be  a  sex  cell,  the  nucleus  is  the  repository  of  the  hereditary  matter  and  the 
seat  of  transmission. 


HOW  CHARACTERS  ARE  TRANSMITTED         125 


bearing  both  silk  and  tassel  and  producing  both  ovules  and  pol- 
len grains,  each  new  kernel  being  independent  of  its  neighbors. 

Fertilization  in  general. 
This,  roughly  speaking,  is 
characteristic  of  fertilization 
in  general,  whether  plant  or 
animal.  A  small  male  cell 
(the  pollen  grain  in  plants  or 
the  spermatozoon  in  animals) 
meets  and  fuses  with  the 
larger  1  female  cell  (ovule  in 
plants  or  ovum  in  animals), 
which  is  thereafter  capable 
of  developing  into  a  new  in- 
dividual possessed  of  all  the 
characters  of  both  parents. 

The  method  of  effecting 
this  union  of  the  nuclei  in 
fertilization  and  the  time  at 
which  it  takes  place  vary 
greatly  in  different  species. 
In  many  plants  both  sex  cells 
are  borne  by  the  same  indi- 
vidual, either  in  one  flower, 
as  in  the  apple  and  the  elm, 

or  in  separate  flowers,  as  in  corn.^  In  others,  as  the  chestnut  and 
the  box  elder,  the  male  flowers  are  borne  on  one  plant  and  the 

1  Though  the  female  cell  is  always  larger  than  the  male,  the  nucleus,  which 
seems  to  be  the  essential  part,  has  the  same  number  of  chromosomes  (see 
chromosomes),  so  that  the  male  and  the  female  parents  have  identical  powers 
in  transmission.  The  differences  in  size  are  apparently  due  to  the  amount  of 
protoplasm  surrounding  the  nucleus,  probably  as  food  material  for  the  develop- 
ing young  and  in  no  way  connected  with  heredity.  This  difference  is  some- 
times great,  as  in  the  egg  of  the  hen,  most  of  which  is  food  material  for  the 
developing  chick,  while  the  male  cell  is  microscopic. 

2  This  bisexuality,  or  hermaphroditism,  is  also  found  in  certain  lower  animals, 
as  the  earthworm. 


Fig.  19.    Kernels  of  corn  growing  on 

the  tip  of  the  tassel ;  occasional  but 

not  common 


126         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

female  on  another,  following  the  plan  of  the  higher  animals, 
in  which  the  two  sexes  are  always  identified  with  separate 
individuals.  See  also  Fig.  19,  which  shows  that  the  tassel  is  a 
modified  ear  with  the  female  flowers  normally  undeveloped. 

In  the  higher  animals  the  ova  are  produced  periodically  and 
fertilization  is  variously  effected.  In  fishes,  for  example,  the 
eggs  are  fertilized  by  the  male  after  having  been  deposited  by  the 
female.  In  frogs  the  eggs  are  fertilized  during  their  deposition. 
In  birds  the  eggs  are  ''  laid  "  as  fast  as  they  mature,  but  unless 
they  have  been  fertilized  by  the  spermatozoa  of  the  male  previous 
to  being  laid,  they  will  not "  hatch,"  just  as  the  unfertilized  ovules 
of  the  corn  fail  to  develop,  leaving  the  cob  bare  of  kernels. 

In  mammals  the  ova  ripen  periodically  like  the  eggs  of  the 
bird,  with  this  difference,  that  if  fertilized  before  escaping  from 
the  body,  they  are  not  discharged  at  all,  but  are  retained  in  the 
uterus  of  the  mother  during  embryonic  development  and  are 
carried  there  until  birth.  The  ova  of  mammals,  unlike  those 
of  birds,  are  not  supplied  with  sufficient  nutriment  to  last 
through  their  comparatively  long  period  of  development,  and 
this  prenatal  food  is  supplied  directly  through  the  blood  of 
the  mother. 

The  student  hardly  needs  to  be  reminded  that  this  blending 
of  nuclei  takes  place  and  development  follows  only  when  the 
nuclei  are  not  too  dissimilar.  For  example,  wheat  would  not  be 
fertilized  by  pollen  of  corn,  but  it  has  been  fertilized  by  that 
of  rye.  This  mixing  of  very  different  races  is  known  as  hybridi- 
zation. The  most  frequent  case  of  hybrids  among  animals  is 
the  common  mule,  but  a  hybrid  has  been  made  between  the 
lion  and  the'  tiger  and  very  frequently  among  plants,  as  between 
the  raspberry  and  the  blackberry.  We  pass  now  to  a  more  care- 
ful consideration  of  what  is  involved  in  transmission. 

The  material  transmitted.  All  that  is  "  handed  down"  from 
parent  to  offspring  is,  therefore,  the  minute  bit  of  matter  con- 
tained in  the  two  nuclei  and  the  small  amount  of  surrounding 
protoplasm,  —  microscopic  in  almost  all  cases.  Of  course  a  single 


HOW  CHARACTERS  ARE  TRANSMITTED         127 

ovule  with  its  pollen  nucleus  would  develop  but  a  single  kernel, 
and  the  operation  described  must  be  repeated  for  every  one  of 
the  thousand  or  more  kernels  of  the  ear,  each  of  which  for 
present  purposes  is  a  distinct  individual. 

The  same  is  true  for  each  grain  of  wheat,  though  in  this  case 
the  ovule  and  the  pollen  are  produced  in  the  same  flower  and 
close  together  under  the  scale  or  chaff.  So  the  process  could 
be  traced  for  every  seed  of  all  species,  for  each  is  a  new  indi- 
vidual. Among  animals,  also,  but  two  nuclei  are  involved  for 
each  new  individual  whether  as  small  as  the  cricket  or  as  large 
as  the  elephant. 

Little  enough  is  known  of  the  essential  constitution  of  these 
remarkable  bits  of  living  matter  called  nuclei,  but  that  little  is 
too  much  to  discuss  exhaustively  here.^  It  is  enough  for  present 
purposes  to  call  attention  to  the  wonderful  fact  that  these  two 
bits  of  matter,  too  small  to  be  seen  and  studied  with  the  naked 
eye,  carry  with  them  all  the  characters  of  the  race ;  moreover, 
as  they  constitute  the  only  material  transmitted  from  parent  to 
offspring,  they  are  the  only  vehicles  of  transmission.  Other 
nuclei  from  other  parts  of  the  body  can  repeatedly  divide,  absorb- 
ing food  as  they  do  so,  constituting  growth,  but  these  nuclei 
from  the  reproductive  cells,  excepting  in  certain  lower  species, 
do  not  grow  till  after  union  with  others  from  the  opposite  sex. 

Chromosomes.  The  nucleus  of  the  animal  or  plant  cell  is 
something  more  than  a  formless  bit  of  matter  endowed  with 
life.  If  the  nuclei  of  several  species  be  stained  and  examined 
under  a  high-pow^r  microscope,  each  will  be  found  to  contain 
a  definite  number  of  rods,  rings,  or  other  bodies,  always  the 
same  in  all  the  cells  of  all  the  individuals  of  the  same  species, 
but  differing  in  different  species.  These  are  called  chromosomes. 

Another  peculiarity  about  the  chromosomes  is  that  for  all 
species  that  propagate  bisexually  the  number  is  even  ;  thus  in 
mouse,  trout,  and  lily  it  is  24  ;  in  ox,  guinea  pig,  onion,  and 

1  It  may  be  conveniently  pursued  further  in  ''  Principles  of  Breeding,"  chaps, 
vii  and  viii. 


128        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

probably  man  it  is  i6  ;  in  ascaris,  4  or  possibly  2  ;  while  in 
artemia  it  is   168. 

There  is  still  another  peculiarity  about  the  chromosomes, 
namely,  that  the  nuclei  from  the  sex  cells  have  but  half  the 
usual  7iumber;  but  after  union  of  the  two  nuclei  from  the  sepa- 
rate parents,  the  full  number  is  restored,  and  from  then  on  cell 
division  and  growth  begin  and  proceed  in  the  usual  way,  barring 
accident,  till  full  maturity  is  attained. 

These  chromosomes,  therefore,  appear  of  importance,  not 
only  in  growth  (for  the  operation  of  cell  division  seems  to  be 
preceded  if  not  characterized  by  the  division  of  the  chromo- 
somes), but  they  appear  to  be  par  excellence  the  hereditary  sub- 
stance, that  is,  the  bearers  of  heredity ;  all  of  which  encourages 
the  belief  that  most  characters  are  in  some  way  identified  with 
definite  portions  of  the  hereditary  matter  of  the  nucleus,  that  is, 
with  its  chromosomes. 

Development,  or  growth  and  differentiation.  The  process  by 
which  these  two  nuclei  after  fusion  succeed  in  producing  a 
new  individual  combines  two  phenomena,  namely,  growth  and 
differentiation. 

The  process  of  growth  means  that  this  new  cell,  which  is 
made  up  of  two  others,  is  able  now  to  absorb  food  materials  and 
to  first  increase  in  size,  then  to  multiply  in  numbers  by  the 
process  of  repeated  and  indefinite  division,  until  what  was  once 
a  single  cell  comes  to  be  a  new  individual  with  thousands  of  cells. 

This  is  growth  and  it  is  astonishing  enough,  but  the  chief 
marvel  is  the  differentiation  that  attends  it.  When  these  thousands 
of  cells  have  developed  from  the  one  original,  it  will  be  found 
that  they  are  not  all  alike  ;  some  are  stem,  others  root,  still  others 
leaf,  flower,  or  fruit.  In  the  case  of  animals  some  are  muscle 
cells,  others  constitute  liver,  brain  and  nerve,  arm,  leg,  or  eye. 

In  other  words,  growth  has  been  attended  by  differentiation, 
so  that  the  single  minute  mother  cell  has  been  able  to  give  rise 
to  many  cells  of  many  kinds,  only  a  few  of  which  are  able  to 
repeat  the  process  of  reproduction.    Not  only  has  differentiation 


HOW  CHARACTERS  ARE  TRANSMITTED         129 

taken  place,  producing  different  parts  of  many  kinds,  but  they 
are  of  the  same  kind  and  in  the  same  position  as  in  the  parents. 

In  a  few  cases  accidents  happen  and  development  does  not 
proceed  in  the  orderly  manner  that  commonly  characterizes 
reproduction.  These  cases  are  extremely  rare,  but  of  sufficient 
interest  to  constitute  the  material  of  a  separate  chapter,  dealing 
with  what  happens  when  development  goes  wrong. 

Termination  to  growth.  Still  another  marvel  attends  upon 
growth  and  differentiation,  and  that  is,  that  it  should  all  stop  at 
the  right  point.  It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  that  a  man's  arm 
should  grow  at  all  so  as  to  be  an  arm  and  not  a  leg,  but  once 
started  it  is  still  more  difficult  to  understand  what  should  stop 
the  growth  at  exactly  or  approximately  the  right  time,  and  not 
allow  it  to  proceed  indefinitely,  as  it  does  in  the  nails,  claws^ 
and,  to  some  extent,  in  the  teeth  of  animals. 

In  general,  plants  have  no  ''typical  termination"  to  their 
growth,  but  increase  in  size  as  long  as  life  lasts  ;  that  is,  they 
seem  unable  to  discharge  their  function  except  in  connection 
with  new  growth  and  by  means  of  recently  formed  tissues,  while 
animals  "  get  their  growth,"  that  is,  function  independently  of 
new  growth. 

Summary.  The  only  possibility  of  transmission  of  the  unit  characters  of 
the  parents  to  the  offspring  is  by  means  of  the  minute  bits  of  matter  con- 
tained in  the  single  sex  cell  from  each  parent,  because  it  is  the  only  material 
handed  down  to  the  new  individual. 

How  this  microscopic  bit  of  matter  can  contain  all  the  potentialities  of 
the  race  and  be  able  not  only  to  grow  and  to  differentiate  with  growth,  but 
to  stop  at  the  right  point,  —  how  it  can  do  all  this  is  a  mystery,  but  the  fact 
is  doubtless  connected  with  the  definite  "  architecture  "  or  structure  of  the 
germ  plasm  which  contains  always  a  definite  number  of  chromosomes. 

Exercises.  1.  Study  the  formation  of  pollen  and  the  location  of  the  pistil 
together  with  the  method  of  getting  the  pollen  upon  the  stigma  in  a  variety 
of  plants.  Oats,  wheat,  beans,  sweet  peas,  and  hollyhocks  are  especially 
recommended. 

2.  Examine  frog  spawn,  if  any  is  available,  and,  if  possible,  obtain 
mounted  slides  showing  the  early  stages  of  embryological  development. 

3.  Set  a  nest  of  eggs  under  a  hen  and  break  one  every  other  day  after 
the  first  week. 


CHAPTER  X 

WHEN  DEVELOPMENT  GOES  WRONG 

Differentiation  with  development  •  Underdevelopment,  or  dwarfing  •  Over- 
development, or  giants  •  Arrested   development  of   a  single  character  or 
part  •  Overdevelopment  of   a   single    part  •  Doubling  of   parts  •  Fusing  of 
parts  •  When  unit  characters  get  misplaced  •  Abnormal  growths 

Differentiation  with  development.  The  greatest  marvel  of 
development  is  differentiation.  That  two  nuclei  not  only  from 
different  cells  but  from  different  individuals  should  fuse,  absorb 
food,  and  divide  and  subdivide  into  not  hundreds  but  thousands 
of  others,  - —  all  this  is  wonderful  enough,  particularly  when  we 
remember  that  without  this  union  neither  would  be  capable  of 
dividing  at  all.^ 

After  all,  however,  the  marvel  is  that  with  development  comes 
differentiation  ;  that  is,  that  the  result  of  growth  is  not  a  lump 
of  formless  matter.  On  the  contrary,  here  a  leg,  there  an  arm 
"  buds  "  out;  here  an  ear  and  there  an  eye  or  a  tooth  appears  ; 
here  a  lung  forms  to  take  in  air  and  there  a  heart  develops  to 
pump  over  the  body  the  stream  of  digested  food  that  we  call  the 
blood,  —  and  so  on,  bit  by  bit,  the  whole  complicated  structure 
of  the  body  arises,  each  part  in  its  proper  place ;  and  not  only 
that,  but  in  general  an  exceedingly  striking  resemblance  to  the 
particular  parentage  results,  so  that  the  being  which  develops 
from  a  fertilized  ovum  of  the  horse,  for  example,  is  not  only 
another  horse,  instead  of  a  cow  or  a  pig,  but  it  is  a  particular 
kind  of  horse,  depending  upon  the  special  individuals  from 
which  he  was  born. 

1  There  are  a  few  exceptions  to  this  statement,  but  they  are  concerned  with 
parthenogenesis,  which  is  not  involved  in  the  subject  matter  here  under 
discussion. 

130 


WHEN  DEVELOPMENT  GOES  WRONG  131 

It  must  not  be  assumed,  however,  that  development  always 
proceeds  in  this  regular  manner  nor  that  the  results  are  all 
perfect.  A  great  variety  of  departures  from  the  usual  plan  may 
occur,  each  with  its  attendant  consequences,  some  of  which  are 
worth  mentioning  here,  not  so  much  for  their  own  sake  as  to 
make  the  student  intelligent  upon  the  really  complicated  proc- 
esses involved  in  development,  and  with  which  we  must  reckon 
in  all  attempts  at  improvement. 

Underdevelopment,  or  dwarfing.  In  order  to  produce  a  per- 
fect individual,  differentiation  must  not  only  occur  in  proper 
form,  but  each  of  the  various  parts  must  grow  to  the  normal 
size.  If  growth  stops  short  of  this  point,  it  is  a  case  of  dwarf- 
ing. The  dwarf  is  like  the  normal  individual  except  as  to  size.^ 
The  separate  cells  of  the  body  of  the  dwarf  are  of  the  usual 
magnitude,  but  the  number  is  fewer ;  that  is,  cell  division  ^  has 
not  continued  the  normal  length  of  time. 

Nearly  all  animals  are  subject  to  dwarfing,  though  it  is  ap- 
proximately rare,  if  not  unknown,  in  some.  It  is  common  with 
human  beings  as  well  as  with  horses,  dogs,  and  chickens,  in 
which  dwarf  species  have  developed. 

The  dwarf  is  very  rare,  if  not  unknown,  among  cattle  and 
sheep,  though,  as  in  all  species,  a  good  many  individuals  are 
"undersized."  The  "titman,"  or  "runt,"  in. the  litter  of  pigs 
is  really  a  dwarf,  the  dwarfing  process  often  being  due  to 
insufficient  food  at  the  start. 

Dwarfing  due  to  this  cause  will  sometimes  disappear  with 
improvement  in  the  conditions  of  life,  though,  in  general,  size 
and  development  lost  in  early  life  are  seldom  fully  restored. 
Cell  division  and  growth  are  more  rapid  at  birth  than  ever  after- 
wards, a  steady  decline  setting  in  that  does  not  permit  full  repa- 
ration for  early  checks  to  normal  development,  —  a  fact  which 

1  So-called  dwarfs  are  often  misshapen  things,  but  in  these  instances  other 
accidents  than  dwarfing  have  occurred,  as  will  be  shown  later. 

2  For  a  description  of  cell  division  in  connection  with  growth,  see"  Principles 
of  Breeding,"  pp.  145-152. 


132         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

shows  the  importance  of  early  food  and  care  for  the  young  of 
our  domesticated  species. 

Plants  are  easily  dwarfed,  either  by  scarcity  of  food  or  by 
repeated  planting  of  immature  seed.  Many  species  have  their 
dwarf  varieties,  though  others  are  artificially  produced  by  graft- 
ing on  other  and  smaller  species,  as,  for  example,  the  pear, 
which  is  dwarfed  by  grafting  upon  stock  of  the  quince. 

Overdevelopment,  or  giants.  In  normal  development  and 
differentiation,  growth  should  not  only  proceed  to  the  proper 
point,  but  it  is  fully  as  important  that  it  stop  at  that  point.  If  it 
does  not,  then  overgrowth  takes  place  and  a  giant  is  produced. 

As  the  dwarf  is  the  result  of  too  little  cell  division  and  too 
few  cells,  so  the  giant  is  the  product  of  too  much  cell  division 
and  too  many  cells  ;  that  is  to  say,  of  growth  that  did  not  stop 
at  the  right  point. 

Giants  are  common  in  man  and  frequent  in  cattle.  So  far  as 
is  known  to  the  writer,  they  are  unknown  in  horses,  sheep,  and 
pigs,  though  these  species  can  all  be  increased  in  size  somewhat 
above  the  normal  by  extreme  feed  and  care  in  early  life  as  well 
as  by  selection  of  parents  above  the  normal. 

Neither  giants  nor  dwarfs  possess  special  interest  to  the 
improver,  because  if  we  needed  a  smaller  or  a  larger  race  than 
the  normal,  we  should  not  depend  upon  these  occasional  indi- 
viduals, which  are  abnormal,  to  produce  it.  Their  mention  here 
is  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  student  somewhat  intelligent 
on  the  processes  of  life,  to  do  which  requires  a  number  and 
variety  of  examples  involving  various  phases  of  abnormal 
development. 

Arrested  development  of  a  single  character  or  part.  Dwarfing 
may  take  place  with  respect  to  one  or  more  parts  or  characters, 
while  others  proceed  to  normal  development,  giving  a  more  or 
less  distorted  body. 

This  form  of  abnormality  has  many  manifestations.  In  some 
cases,  for  example,  a  part  is  entirely  missing,  as  if  the  unit  char- 
acter had  been  lost,  as  in  a  case,  known  to  the  writer,  of  a  man 


WHEN  DEVELOPMENT  GOES  WRONG  133 

whose  feet  were  attached  directly  to  the  body,  the  legs  having 
never  developed. 

A  great  variety  of  missing  parts  might  be  mentioned  and 
specimens  innumerable  may  be  seen  in  almost  any  museum. ^ 
One  or  both  horns  may  fail  to  develop  or  the  two  may  fuse  into 
one.  A  well-known  calf  in  the  Chicago  stockyards  never  had 
but  one  front  leg  and  was  used  for  years  as  a  "  penholder."  ^ 

Men  are  frequently  born  minus  one  or  both  arms,  or  parts  of 
the  arm,  and  a  student  of  the  writer's,  normal  in  every  other 
way,  had  no  forefinger  on  the  right  hand.  Almost  every  neigh- 
borhood will  afford  similar  examples. 

Not  infrequently  the  nondevelopment  of  a  part  becomes  a 
regular  and  constitutional  matter.  The  male  narwhal,  for  ex- 
ample, develops  the  canine  tooth  as  a  long,  twisted  tusk,  often 
attaining  a  length  of  seven  or  eight  feet.  The  peculiarity  is 
that  normally  only  the  left  tusk  develops,  the  right  remaining 
rudimentary.  In  rare  cases  both  are  developed,  but  7iever  the 
right  without  the  left. 

The  snake  has  commonly  but  one  lung,  the  other  regularly 
failing  of  development  along  with  his  rudimentary  legs,  which 
are  still  represented  by  a  few  remains  of  bones  in  the  pelvic 
region  of  such  large  specimens  as  the  python.^ 

The  whale  is  not  a  fish  but  a  mammal,  like  a  cow.  It  is 
developed  from  an  old-time  land  animal,  and  its  rudimentary 
legs  are  still  to  be  found  as  parts  of  the  skeleton.  Both  teeth 
and  hair  develop  during  the  fetal  life,  but  are  absorbed  and 
disappear  before  birth,  never  developing  afterward. 

1  Abnormalities  are  sufficiently  common  and  curious  to  give  rise  to  their 
special  study,  which  is  known  as  teratology. 

2  A  penholder  is,  in  stockyard  vernacular,  an  animal  that  is  used  to  hold 
a  yard  or  pen,  which,  so  long  as  it  is  occupied,  belongs  to  the  owner  of  the 
occupant. 

^  Snakes,  of  course,  are  developed  from  prehistoric  species  with  legs  and 
probably  at  that  time  supplied  with  two  lungs.  The  modern  lethargic  life  ren- 
ders such  lung  power  unnecessary,  and  the  restricted  space  in  the  elongated 
and  constricted  body  makes  it  also  impossible.  So  the  modern  snake  gets 
along  very  well  with  one  lung. 


134 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


The  ostrich  is  losing  his  useless  wings,  and  those  of  the 
apteryx  have  gone,  except  that  some  of  the  bones  can  yet  be 
found  just  under  the  skin  of  the  breast.  And  so  examples  of 
missing  or  disappearing  parts  could  be  multiplied  indefinitely, 
but  enough  have  been  given  to  show  that  development  does  not 
always  proceed  regularly,  and  that  the  arrest  of  one  part  does 
not  necessarily  prevent  the  development  of  others. 

The  most  important  phase  of  this  subject  to  the  general 
student  is  in  the  field  of  the  mental  and  moral  characters,  espe- 
cially with  people.  Idiocy  is  but  the  arrested  development  of 
one  or  all  of  the  mental  faculties,  just  as  insanity  is  their  break- 
ing down  from  insufficient  power  originally  or  from  overwork 
or  abuse  in  life. 

Just  as  we  have  idiotic  people,  so  we  have  idiots  among 
horses  and  dogs,  a  fact  that  destroys  or  greatly  lessens  their 
value  in  proportion  to  the  kind  of  work  we  expect  them  to  do. 
We  have  also  insane  individuals  in  both  species,  and  some  of 
the  most  dangerous  runaways  are  due  to  sudden  insanity  of  the 
horse,  brought  on  by  fright,  old  age,  or  disease. 

Both  horsemen  and  dog  fanciers  should  understand  that  in 
these  two  species  we  are  dealing  with  mental  faculties  of  an 
order  so  high  that  any  disturbance  or  shortage  is  a  serious 
matter.  Other  animals  are  of  a  much  lower  order  of  mentality 
and  we  depend  less  upon  their  intelligence,  so  that  relative 
idiocy  is  not  so  noticeable,  nor  is  insanity  so  likely  to  appear, 
because  they  lead,  upon  the  whole,  a  relatively  tranquil  life. 
Occasionally,  however,  a  steer  loses  his  head,  as  when  being 
driven  in  a  strange  place,  and  when  he  does  it  is  a  good  time 
to  find  cover.  1 

The  most  serious  consequences  follow  the  arrested  develop- 
ment of  the  mental  and  moral  faculties  in  man.  We  are  only 
recently  coming  to  recognize  these  unfortunate  individuals  as 
degenerates  and  to  realize  their  wholly  dangerous  character.    A 

1  This  happens  frequently  about  the  stockyards  in  all  markets,  though 
commonly  animals  in  large  numbers  are  extremely  quiet. 


WHEN  DEVELOPMENT  GOES  WRONG  135 

trip  through  any  of  our  prisons  by  one  who  knows  what  to  look 
for  and  is  quick  to  recognize  signs  of  arrested  development  will 
convince  him  that  one  of  the  problems  of  civilization  is  to  deal 
with  members  of  our  own  race  who  are  not  sufficiently  developed 
to  exist  under  civilized  conditions  except  as  a  constant  menace 
to  society.  When  these  facts  are  more  generally  realized  we 
shall  free  ourselves  of  much  maudlin  sentiment  and  be  on  the 
road  to  solving  this  most  perplexing  and  awful  problem,  —  the 
problem  of  the  human  degenerate,^ 

Overdevelopment  of  a  single  part.  Just  as  a  part  may  fail 
to  develop  without  destroying  the  individual,^  so  also  can  one 
or  more  parts  attain  extreme  development,  while  most  or  all  of 
the  others  may  remain  normal.  A  little  of  this  commonly  occurs 
among  giants,  which  are,  in  man,  generally  disproportionally 
developed  in  the  thighs  ;  indeed,  most  extremely  tall  people 
get  their  height  at  this  point. 

Often  the  liver  will  begin  growing  and  attain  enormous  size 
(hypertrophy)  ;  or  if  one  kidney  is  removed,  the  other  may  be- 
come greatly  enlarged  through  doing  the  work  of  both. 

If  the  spleen  is  removed,  the  lymphatic  glands  of  other  parts 
of  the  body  become  greatly  enlarged  (compensating  hypertrophy), 
a  phenomenon  akin  to  the  sharpened  hearing  of  blind  people, 
but  only  partially  comparable  from  the  fact  that  practice  and 
concentration  of  attention  help  to  explain  the  skillful  use  of 
hearing  by  the  blind. 

1  The  extent  to  which  the  human  animal  may  be  destitute  of  one  or  more  of 
our  higher  faculties  can  be  illustrated  only  by  appealing  to  the  fact  that  as 
individuals  are  minus  legs,  arms,  fingers,  hands,  ears,  eyes,  etc.j  so  they  can 
be  and  are  destitute  of  many  of  the  mental  faculties  necessary  to  an  under- 
standing and  appreciation  of  the  main  facts  and  principles  on  which  civilized 
society  exists.  Such  individuals  cannot  live  at  large  except  as  a  constant 
menace.  They  should  therefore,  upon  committing  crime,  be  permanently  with- 
drawn from  society. 

2  Of  course,  if  arrested  development  occurs  in  any  vital  part,  death  en- 
sues. One  of  the  most  common  cases  of  infant  mortality  is  the  failure  of 
the  heart  to  complete  its  development  and  therefore  to  properly  circulate 
the  blood,  giving  rise  to  the  disease  known  as  "  blue  baby,"  from  the  blue  or 
nonaerated  blood. 


136         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Doubling  of  parts.  One  of  the  most  common  of  abnormalities 
is  the  increase  of  numbers  of  parts,  especially  by  doubling.  An 
extra  finger  or  toe  is  by  no  means  rare,  and  double  thumbs  or 
even  double  hands  are  not  unknown  (see  Fig.  20). 

The  horse,  having  developed  from  a  five-toed  ancestor,  has 
frequently  an  extra  toe  or  two,  as  does  the  cow,  though  less 
commonly.    Certain  strains  of  sheep  have  four  horns  instead 


Fig.  20.  Symmetry  within  the  variable  part.   Here  it  would  seem  that  an  attempt 

has  been  rriade  to  repeat  the  hand,  or  rather  that  an  attempt  at  repetition  of  the 

thumb  has  resulted  in  a  doubling  of  the  hand.  —  After  Bateson 

of,  two,  and  occasionally  the  deer  shows  a  cluster  of  horns  instead 
of  the  normal  growth. 

Insects  frequently  double  a  leg  or  a  wing,  and  turtles  and 
snakes  occasionally  double  the  head ;  ^  indeed,  there  is  almost 
no  organ  or  part  of  the  body  that  may  not  in  rare  instances 
be  doubled  2  (see  Fig.  21). 

Doubling  among  plants  is  exceedingly  common,  being  noth- 
ing more  .or  less  than  branching.  Double  clover  heads  are 
found  everywhere,  double  timothy  heads  rarely,  and  double 
wheat  still  more  rarely.  Double  ears  of  corn,  or,  more  properly, 
"  fingered  "  ears,  are  frequently  found,  as  are  little  ears  on  the 
end  of  the  tassel  (see  Fig.  19). 

1  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  pp.  44,  64,  67. 

2  The  so-called  double-headed  people  of  the  shows  have  been  in  every  case 
really  twins  united  by  fleshy  growth,  an  abnormality  that  occasionally  happens. 


Fig.  21.    Upper  and  lower  surfaces  of  double-headed  turtle  compared  with  the 

usual  specimens  two  to  three  days  old.   Note  effect  on  shell  plates  both  above 

and  beneath.    In  this  specimen  the  movements  of  the  legs  on  opposite  sides 

were  not  well  coordinated.  — ■  After  Bateson 


137 


138         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


Fig.  22.  A  hand- 
shaped  corncob 
showing  a  tendency 
to  branching  of  the 
ear,  not  at  all  un- 
common 


The  stooling  of  grain  is  a  case  of  branching  at  the  base  and 
is  a  real  doubling,  as  are  the  four-,  five-,  or  six-leaved  clovers. 
The  whole  matter  of  doubling  is,  of  course, 
the  result  of  an  extra  cell  division  at  the 
proper  point,  —  an  abnormality  that  is  some- 
times hereditary  but  oftener  not,  though  a 
strong  tendency  exists  for  any  physiological 
habit  proceeding 
from  internal 
causes  to  become 
hereditary. 

Fusingof  parts. 
Quite  the  oppo- 
site of  doubling  is 
the  fusing  or  joining  of  two  parts 
into  one.  Thus  the  two  kidneys  may 
be  joined  at  one  end,  making  the 
horseshoe  kidney.  A  pair  of  horns 
may  be  compounded  into  one.  Two 
fingers  of  the  human  hand  or  the 
two  toes  of  the  pig  ^  may  be  united 
into  one. 

When  unit  characters  get  mis- 
placed. Perhaps  the  most  remarkable 
fact  of  development  and  differentia- 
tion is  seen  when  a  normal  struc- 
ture develops  in  an  abnormal  place. 

Thus  occasionally  a  tooth  will  develop     roebuck  are  united  into  a  single 

.,  r     £  J.^  J.1  '£  a_i         beam  for  a  considerable  distance, 

m  the  roof  of  the  mouth,  as  if  the     ^ut  afterwards  they  separate. - 

germ'  of  it  had  in   some  way  got  After  liateson 

misplaced  but  was  able  to  grow  in 

its  new  place,  like  a  tree  that  is  transplanted.     Sometimes  the 
eye  of  an  insect  will  develop  not  as  an  eye  but  as  an  antenna. 

1  These  are  the  so-called  solid-  or  mule-hoofed  hogs.  This  abnormality 
arises  frequently  and  may  be  readily  propagated,  as  it  happens  to  be  fairly 
hereditary.    See  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  pp.  55,  66. 


Fig.  23.  Compounding  of  paired 
organs :    the  two   horns   of  this 


WHEN  DEVELOPMENT  GOES  WRONG  139 

Milk  secretion  is  the  function  of  glands  that  are  normally 
confined  to  special  parts  of  the  body.  It  is  not  unknown,  how- 
ever, that  the  tissues  of  various  parts  of  the  body,  especially  in 


Fig.  24.    Abnormal  horny  growth  on  the  head  of  a  deer.    Specimen  in 
State  Museum,  Augusta,  Maine.    Courtesy  of  the  superintendent 

the  region  of   the   lymphatics,   may  alter  their  function   and 
secrete  real  milk. 

This  development  of  a  part  out  of  place  is  not  common,  but 
it  occurs  frequently  enough  to  show  the  fact  that  each  part  of 
the  body  is  a  kind  of  definite  unit  quite  independent  of  other 
parts,  all  of  which  casts  important  light  upon  the  semi-independ- 
ent nature  of  unit  characters. 


I40        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Abnormal  growths.  Not  only  do  unit  characters  occasionally 
get  mixed  up  and  jumbled  together  in  quite  remarkable  fashion, 
but  in  rare  cases  growths  occur  which,  if  not  formless,  at  least 
are  in  no  sense  of  the  term  normal  body  growths.  Often  these 
are  distorted  imitations  of  the  real  part,  as  on  the  deer's  head 
shown  in  Fig.  24  ;  but  often,  if  not  commonly,  they  are  over- 
growths of  some  part  of  the  body,  induced  possibly  by  irritation 
or  perhaps  by  poisons,  as  in  galls,  in  the  characteristic  tubercle 
of  the  disease  known  as  tuberculosis,  and  in  its  namesake,  the 
tubercle  of  the  legumes. 

Of  this  general  character,  too,  is  the  tumor,  that  perverse 
overgrowth  due  to  disorders  not  understood,  but  which,  from  the 
fact  that  they  "  have  no  typical  termination,"  are  not  only 
extremely  troublesome  but  often  dangerous  to  life. 

With  this  glimpse  at  the  abnormal  we  are  prepared  to  resume 
the  normal  and  to  discuss  briefly  how  unit  characters  behave  in 
transmission. 

Summary.  Development  may  go  wrong  in  several  ways.  First,  some 
part  may  not  develop  at  all,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  far  exceed  its 
normal  size  or  function.  A  part  may  even  be  doubled,  two  parts  may  fuse 
into  one,  or  normal  characters  may  get  misplaced.  The  whole  organism  may 
exceed  the  normal  size  or  it  may  stop  short  of  the  usual,  and  in  rare  cases 
abnormal  growths  may  occur  in  almost  any  part  of  the  body. 

Exercise.  Make  collections  of  plants  or  parts  of  plants,  including  fruits 
and  flowers,  in  which  development  has  been  in  some  way  unusual.  Such  a 
collection  is  not  representative  of  life  processes,  but  it  does  show  what  may 
possibly  happen  when  development  goes  wrong,  and  it  fixes  the  conception 
of  unit  characters. 

Learn  by  observation  and  inquiry  all  that  you  can  about  unusual  animals 
in  the  neighborhood,  either  in  regard  to  color  markings  or  abnormal  parts, 
getting  photographs  and  accurate  descriptions  wherever  possible.  Let  a  col- 
lection of  such  specimens  and  photographs  accumulate  in  the  school  for 
future  studies  in  abnormal  behavior  during  differentiation. 


CHAPTER  XI 
HOW  CHARACTERS  BEHAVE  IN  TRANSMISSION 

Characters  tend  to  combine  in  definite  mathematical  proportions  •  Characters 
that  do  not  blend  •  Mendel's  law  of  hybrids  •  Dominant  and  recessive 
characters  •  Pure  races  may  spring  from  crossing  •  Very  few  individuals 
pure  •  A  second  method  of  improvement  •  Improvement  by  hybridization 
complicated  •  Mutation  and  mutants  •  Origin  of  new  and  improved  strains 

The  manner  and  machinery  of  transmission  are  exceedingly 
simple,  but  the  mystery  is,  how  so  many  and  such  different  unit 
characters  are  contained  in  so  small  a  bit  of  living  matter,  for 
that  is  all  that  passes  over  from  parent  to  offspring.  Many 
ingenious  theories  have  been  offered  in  explanation,  but  the 
mystery  itself  has  never  yet  been  solved.  We  do  know  much, 
however,  of  what  in  the  end  really  happens,  and  in  that,  after 
all,  the  chief  practical  interest  lies. 

Characters  tend  to  combine  in  definite  mathematical  propor- 
tions. In  the  .case  of  the  white  and  yellow  corn,  for  example, 
if  a  yellow  silk  is  fertilized  by  a  white  pollen  grain,  the  resulting 
kernel  will  be  a  "  half  blood  "  ;  that  is,  one  half  its  color  tenden- 
cies will  be  yellow  and  one  half  white.  If  such  a  kernel  now  be 
planted  where  its  progeny  will  again  be  fertilized  by  white  pollen, 
the  result  will  be  a  three-fourths  white  and  one-fourth  yellow 
generation.  If  the  same  be  done  again,  the  next  generation 
will  have  seven  eighths  of  the  white  "  blood  "  with  only  one 
eighth  remaining  of  the  yellow,  and  so  on  indefinitely  in  regularly 
increasing  and  decreasing  proportions.  Of  course  the  opposite 
result,  but  on  the  same  plan,  would  have  followed  if  the  half 
blood  had  been  bred  successively  with  yellow  rather  than  with 
white  varieties. 

Having  found  the  principle,  we  can  readily  calculate  the 
*'  blood  "  of  the  progeny  of  any  known  mixture.    For  example, 

141 


142        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

the  blood  of  a  three-fourths  white  bred  with  a  seven-eighths  white 

3  .1.  7 

would  be  ^ — ^,  or  i|  white  with  the  remaining  -f^  yellow,  — 

this  much  for  single  kernels  or  for  a  whole  generation  of  known 
mixed  breeding. 

Suppose  now  that  white  and  yellow  corn  be  planted  together 
in  the  same  field  in  equal  proportions.  What  will  be  the  nature 
of  the  crop  ?  The  answer  to  this  question  covers  one  of  the  most 
important  points  in  plant  or  animal  improvement,  for  there  is 
no  essential  difference  in  principle  between  the  two,  and  what 
applies  to  one  applies  equally  to  the  other,  so  far  as  principles 
are  concerned. 

In  such  a  field  planted  equally  with  white  and  yellow  corn 
the  first  question  is.  Will  all  the  kernels  be  mixed  ?  Manifestly 
not.  Under  the  law  of  chance  ^  a  yellow  silk,  for  example,  will 
have  equal  opportunities  of  being  fertilized  by  a  yellow  or  by  a 
white  pollen  grain  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  ovule  stands  equal  chances 
of  developing  as  a  pure  or  as  a  mixed  kernel,  and  the  same  may 
be  said  of  any  kernel  in  the  field,  provided  of  course  that  the 
number  of  silks  and  of  pollen  grains  are  equal,  as  was  specified 
in  the  problem. 

When  the  season  is  over,  the  whole  population  of  corn  ker- 
nels of  the  field  will  then  be  as  follows :  on  the  stalks  arising 
from  yellow  kernels  ^  will  be  pure  yellow  and  J-  will  be  mixed, 
yellow  and  white ;  on  the  stalks  arising  from  white  kernels  | 
will  be  pure  white  and  ^  will  be  mixed,  yellow  and  white. 

Now,  as  the  corn  was  planted  half  and  half,  each  kind  of 
stalk  represents  half  the  crop.  So  we  have  for  the  field  as 
a  whole,  \  pure  yellow ;  \  mixed,  white  on  yellow ;  \  pure 
white ;  \  mixed,  yellow  on  white. 

But  as  white  pollen  on  yellow  silk  gives  the  same  mixture  as 
yellow  pollen  on  white  silk,  we  have  our  population  reduced  to 
the  following :  J  pure  yellow,  ^  mixed,  \  pure  white,  from  which 

1  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  pp.  365,  504. 


HOW  CHARACTERS  BEHAVE 


143 


we  deduce  that  with  reference  to  a  single  character  the  total 
offspring  resulting  from  mixed  breeding  between  two  races,  in 
equal  numbers  where  no  selection  is  involved,  will  be  in  the 
proportion  of  |  pure  of  one  variety,  ^  mixed,  and  1  pure  of  the 
other.  This  is  in  the  proportion  of  25  per  cent,  50  per  cent, 
and  25  per  cent  of  the  total  population,  or  of  i,  2,  i.  If  the 
proportion  between  yellow  and  white  had  been  as  2  to  I  instead 
of  even,  then  the  proportion  of  the  pure  and  mixed  kernels 
would  have  been  different  but  still  definite  and  easily  computed. 

Let  us  now  see  what  would  happen  if  this  crop  of  pure  white, 
pure  yellow,  and  mixed  should  be  planted  together  again,  each 
sort  in  its  true  proportion ;  that  is,  just  as  would  happen  in 
nature,  supposing  all  forms  to  be  equally  vigorous  and  equally 
able  to  withstand  natural  selection.  We  will  tabulate  this  because 
it  gets  rapidly  complicated.  In  the  table  let  the  different  combi- 
nations planted  be  represented  by  the  column  headings  across 
the  top,  and  the  different  kinds  of  pollen  produced  be  repre- 
sented by  the  headings  down  the  side. 

Remembering  that  every  kind  of  pollen  will  fall  on  every 
kind  of  silk,  and  in  definite  proportions,  the  results  are  as  follows, 
the  body  of  the  table  repre- 
senting the  various  kinds 
of  progeny  and  the  footing 
at  the  bottom  showing  the 
final  and  total  population. 

In  this  table  the  expo- 
nents represent  the  num- 
ber of  infusions  of  pure  blood  ;  that  is,  y  pollen  on  y  silk  gives 
j|/2  kernels,  or  two  infusions  of  y,  as  compared  to  the  y  of  yw, 
which  represents  the  first  mixture  of  yellow  and  white,  and  so 
on  for  other  combinations. 

Now  these  facts  are  significant :  first,  we  have  all  the  combi- 
nations possible  between  y  and  iv  as  the  result  of  two  admixtures  ; 
second,  with  all  this  admixture  for  two  generations  we  still  have 
some  white  {y^)  and  some  yellow  {w^)  remaining  as  pure  as  if 


y2 

zyzv 

■W"' 

^2   .  . 

2  yxv      . 
■ufl-     .     . 

2  y^7cf 

2  yHv 
Ay'^w^ 
2  yw^ 

yht^ 
2yw^ 

Total,  y  +  \y^w  -\-  6yhc'^  +  \yzv^  -\-  TiA 

144        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

no  mixture  had  taken  place  in  the  field ;  third,  the  coefficients 
expressing  proportion  as  well  as  the  exponents  expressing 
infusions  of  blood  stand  in  the  exact  form  of  the  binomial 
theorem,  that  is,  we  have  here  reproduced  the  binomial  (j  -h  w)^. 
Knowing  this  general  theorem,  the  student  can  readily  write 
the  color  or  blood  combination  for  any  number  of  infusions 
with  any  degree  of  mixed  breeding. 

Another  significant  fact  must  be  noted,  namely,  that  although 
this  formula  becomes  rapidly  complicated  with  successive  genera- 
tions,^ there  are  always  a  few  individuals  remaining  just  as 
pure  as  if  no  mixed  breeding  had  been  done,  all  of  which  means 
that  in  free  and  unrestricted  breeding  all  possible  combinations 
will  take  place.  In  systematic  improvement  it  is  the  business 
of  the  breeder  to  allow  only  such  blood  combinations  to  be  made 
as  will  result  in  desirable  combinations  and  favorable  results, 
preventing  all  others. 

Characters  that  do  not  blend.  When  diverse  characters  are 
thus  brought  together,  two  very  different  results  may  follow. 
They  may  blend  into  a  single  new  character,  in  which  case 
our  figures  show  the  proportions  within  the  bloody  or  they  may 
remain  distinct  as  two  independent  characters  within  the  same 
individual.  Stature  and  size  as  well  as  many  colors  blend  freely, 
but  not  all  characters  behave  in  that  simple  way.  For  example, 
white  and  black  blend  freely  in  the  human  race,  and  the  off- 
spring of  white  and  negro  are  mulattoes  of  various  shades, 
according  to  the  respective  infusions ;  but  colors  do  not  blend 
in  pigs,  which  are  either  black,  white,  or  spotted,  never  roan 
or  mulatto.  Some  colors  blend  in  horses  (roan),  some  do  not. 
Some  breeds  of  catde  have  blended  colors  (Shorthorns) ;  in 
others  the  colors  remain  distinct  (Holstein-Friesian). 

And  so  with  characters  generally.  Many  will  blend  and  many 
others  will  not.  When  they  will  not  blend,  then  the  appearance 
is  still  less  a  guide  to  the  real  hereditary  qualities,  and  under 
these  circumstances  it  is  little  or  no  index  to  what  will  happei) 

*  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  p.  506. 


HOW  CHARACTERS  BEHAVE  1 45 

when  the  mixture  is  bred.  This  fact  was  long  a  great  stum- 
blingblock  to  breeders,  involving  the  business  of  improvement 
in  unfortunate  and,  as  we  now  know,  unnecessary  mystery. 

MendePs  law  of  hybrids. ^  This  so-called  Mendel's  law, 
named  for  its  first  discoverer  (I  say  first,  for  it  was  lost  till 
rediscovered),  attempts  to  predict  what  will  be  the  real  char- 
acter of  the  offspring  of  mixed  or  hybrid  parents  when  the 
characters  of  the  mixture  will  not  blend. 

What  really  happens  in  such  a  case  is  this  :  The  hybrid 
offspring,  instead  of  possessing  a  new  character  which  is  a 
kind  of  mean  or  blend  between  the  different  characters  of  the 
two  parents,  will  contain  them  both;  and  when  these  hybrids 
are  bred  together,  their  offspring  will  be  not  of  one  but  of 
three  distinct  kinds,  namely,  a  group  that  is  like  the  one  origi- 
nal and  pure  parent,  another  group  that  is  like  the  other 
original  and  pure  parent,  and  a  larger  group  that  is  hybrid 
like  its  immediate  parents. 

For  example,  let  x  and  y  represent  any  two  nonblending 
characters  in  separate  individuals.  What  will  happen  when 
they  are  bred  together,  and  when  their  hybrid  offspring  are 
afterwards  bred  among  themselves  t 

The  problem  stands  thus  :  One  parent  produces  both  x  and  y 
characters.  The  other  parent  also  produces  both  x  and  y  char- 
acters. What  are  the  combinations  that  will  take  place  .?  Mani- 
festly these  combinations  will  follow  the  law  of  chance.  In  one 
case  out  of  four  the  two  ;t-'s  will  unite,  making  pure  ;r's  {x^) ; 
in  one  case  out  of  four  also  the  two  y\  will  unite,  making  pure 
j^'s  (jj/2)  ;  and  in  the  two  other  cases  the  x  and  the/  will  unite, 
making  again  xy  offspring  in  numbers  equal  to  both  the  others  ; 
that  is,  the  total  result  of  breeding  together  a  lot  of  hybrid  indi- 
viduals with  mixed  characters  x  and  y  will  be  in  the  proportion 

1  Mendel,  an  Austrian  monk,  carried  on  experiments  in  his  garden  that 
brought  out  the  principle  here  stated,  but  all  of  which  was  lost  and  lay  un- 
known for  many  years.  For  a  more  extended  account,  see  "  Principles  of 
Breeding,"  p.  513. 


146        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

oi  x^  +  2  xy  +y^,  in  which  x"^  andj^  ^re  pure  as  to  this  character, 
though  descended  from  mixed  parents  on  both  sides. 

Now  the  x^  part  of  this  offspring,  having  no  j/  characters,  will 
continue  to  breed  pure  x  as  well  as  if  no  j  were  involved  in  the 
make-up  of  its  ancestry,  and  likewise  for  the  jj/^. 

The  2  xy  part  of  this  generation  is  hybrid  like  the  parents, 
and,  when  bred  together,  will  reproduce  again  the  same  general 
character  of  offspring  as  their  hybrid  parents  of  the  last  genera- 
tion, namely,  jt^  +  2  xy  -\-y'^ ;  that  is  to  say,  when  hybrids  of 
nonblending  characters  are  bred  together  they  will  produce  three 
kinds  of  offspring.  One  will  be  like  the  one  pure  parent ;  another 
will  be  like  the  other  pure  parent,  and  the  third  group,  consti- 
tuting one  half  the  total  numbers,  will  remain  hybrid.  The  two 
others  will  breed  pure,  but  the  hybrid  will  not. 

Dominant  and  recessive  characters.  In  truth,  it  is  seldom  in 
practice  that  all  these  three  classes  stand  clearly  out.  Some  char- 
acters are  dominant  over  others ;  that  is,  more  easily  detected, 
such  as  strong  colors  over  weak,  huge  size  over  small,  etc. 

Suppose  now  that  we  take  such  a  case,  representing  the 
dominant  or  easily  detected  character  by  the  letter  D^  and  the 
recessive,  as  it  is  called,  or  the  obscure  character  by  the  letter  r. 
The  result  of  breeding  Dr  hybrids  with  themselves  will  then 
beZ^+2Z>/'-f  r^. 

Now  what  will  this  kind  of  a  population  look  like  ?  The  D^, 
being  pure,  will  of  course  be  easily  seen.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  f^y  though  less  distinct,  because  the  recessive  characters  are 
less  conspicuous  ;  that  is,  2  5  per  cent  of  the  population  is  clearly 
jy^  and  another  25  per  cent  is  as  certainly  r^.  But  what  about 
the  remaining  50  per  cent .? 

Clearly  this  50  per  cent  {Dr)  will  look  like  pure  D,  because 
the  r  character,  though  actually  present,  will  not  be  noticed, 
being  recessive. 

Accordingly  the  whole  population,  instead  of  looking  like 
25/72+  ^oDr+  2$r^,  as  it  really  is,  will  appear  like  75  D'^  + 
2$  r^,  the  eye  being  unable  to  distinguish  between  the  25  Z>  and 


HOW  CHARACTERS  BEHAVE 


147 


the  SoDr;  that  is  to  say,  where  one  character  is  dominant  and 
the  other  recessive,  it  is  simply  impossible  to  separate  the  pure 
dominant  from  the  mixed  dominant  and  recessive  by  appear- 
ances merely.  It  can  only  be  done  by  a  resort  to  the  breeding 
test,  when  the  really  pure  Z^^'s  will  produce  only  Z^'s,  while  the 
real  Drs  will  produce  back  again  the  characteristic  Z^  -f  2  Dr 
+  r^  with  its  25   per  cent  of  pure  r's.   As  has  been  already 


Fig.  25.    Showing  albino  sire  and  black  dam  with  their  offspring,  all  black. 
Below,  a  pair  of  the  hybrid  offspring  and  their  litter  (see  text).    From  photo- 
graphs furnished  by  W.  E.  Castle,  Harvard  University 

explained,  no  such  difficulty  exists  with  regard  to  the  pure  reces- 
sive character,  because  from  the  first  those  that  look  like  re- 
cessive are  recessive.  For  this  reason  breeders  are  always  glad 
when  a  desired  character  proves  to  be  recessive,  because  it  can 
be  so  much  more  easily  separated  from  its  associated  character 
than  can  a  dominant. 

This  behavior  of  unit  characters  in  hybrids  is  beautifully  illus- 
trated by  the  work  of  Professor  Castle  with  guinea  pigs,  as 


148        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

shown  in  Fig.  25.  Here  we  have  a  hybrid  offspring  from  an 
albino  sire  and  a  black  dam.  The  offspring  are  all  black,  so 
black  is  dominant  over  white.  Their  offspring  are,  however,  of 
two  kinds,  both  black  and  white,  but  in  the  proportion  of  3  to  i . 
Of  this  group  of  four,  therefore,  only  one,  the  white,  can  with 
certainty  be  counted  upon  to  breed  true.  Some  of  the  blacks 
will  also  breed  true,  but  only  the  breeding  test  will  determine 
which  they  are. 

This  whole  matter  is  up  in  full  force  in  all  attempts  at  im- 
provement by  crossing,  whether  among  plants  or  animals,  which 
is  the  reason  why  animal  breeders  especially  avoid  this  form  of 
breeding,  though  it  is  a  favorite  method  in  the  improvement  of 
plants,  which  can  be  produced  in  large  numbers.^ 

When  the  parents  differ  in  two  unit  characters,  the  case  is 
more  complicated,  but  the  principle  remains  the  same,  namely, 
that  all  possible  combinations  will  occur  and  a  perfectly  definite 
number  of  each  may  be  expected.  Again,  Professor  Castle's  work 
with  guinea  pigs  illustrates  the  point  especially  well. 

In  Fig.  26  are  shown  a  dark-colored  smooth-haired  and  an 
albino  rough-haired  parent.  Their  offspring  were  all  dark  and 
rough  as  shown  in  the  middle  figure,  but  some  of  their  progeny 
were  smooth  and  white  as  shown  in  the  lower  figure,  while  others 
were  like  each  of  the  original  parents,  and  still  others  like  the 
first  hybrid ;  that  is,  all  possible  combinations  had  been  made. 
In  this  case  the  Mendelian  expectation  is  3  :  3  : 9  :  i . 

Pure  races  may  spring  from  crossing.  The  facts  just  pre- 
sented show  Xhdit  for  characters  that  blend,  the  hybrid  will  breed 
pure  as  a  single  new  race,  but  that  for  characters  that  do  not 
blend,  the  individuals  may  or  may  not  be  pure  and  may  or  may 
not  breed  true. 

All  the  facts  go  to  show  that  whether  the  offspring  of  hybrid 
parents  consist  of  three  groups  as  when  only  one  character  is 
involved,  or  whether  they  consist  of  many  groups  as  when  two  or 

1  The  student  of  breeding  should  understand,  however,  that  crossing  is 
equally  effective  with  animals  and  plants,  except  that  the  very  large  numbers 
involved  makes  it  too  expensive  for  most  individual  animal  breeders. 


HOW  CHARACTERS  BEHAVE 


149 


more  characters  are  involved  the  groups  may,  by  patience,  be 
separated  and  new  races  estabhshed  that  will  breed  pure.  The 
greatest  difficulty  arises  in  separating  for  the  dominant  char- 
acters, but  the  test  is  in  the  descendants. 

It  will  be  noted  too,  in  this  connection,  that  in  these  new 
races  an  absolutely  new  association  of  characters  is  often  brought 


Fig.  26.  A  dark  smooth  parent  and  an  albino  rough  parent.    Below  is  their  dark 
rough  offspring,  and  at  the  bottom  one  of  the  types  that  appeared  in  the  grand- 
children (see  text),  a  new  type  associating  the  short  coat  and  the  white  color, 
—  After  Castle,  1905,  Publication  23,  Carnegie  Institution,  Washington,  B.C. 

about  as  when  the  white  color  and  the  smooth  coat  have  been 
brought  together  from  two  different  sources.  In  this  way  new 
races  that  will  breed  true  may  be  got  out  of  a  mixture  whether 
the  characters  blend  or  not. 

Very  few  individuals  pure.  What  has  just  been  said  has 
reference  to  characters  and  not  to  individuals.  As  will  be 
seen  below,  it  is  a  difficult  task  to  find  an  individual  that  is 


150        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

pure  with  reference  to  all  his  characters  after  they  have  once 
become  entangled  with  others. 

A  second  method  of  improvement.  It  is  very  clear  that  here 
we  possess  a  means  of  improvement  quite  different  from  that  of 
simple  selection,  and,  moreover,  it  is  one  that  will  somewhat 
suddenly  give  rise  to  new  races.  The  chief  difficulty  is  to  find 
and  identify  the  comparatively  few  individuals  that  are  pure 
with  reference  to  all  essential  characters,  and  this  is  a  reason 
for  reducing  the  characters  in  breeding  to  the  fewest  possible. 

As  to  nonessential  characters  the  new  race  may  remain 
hybrid  for  all  the  breeder  cares.  For  example,  if  he  is  trying  to 
combine  amount  and  quality  of  milk,  he  will  get  along  faster  if 
he  pays  no  attention  to  the  color  of  the  cows,  and  selects  only 
the  few  that  have  the  character  he  is  after,  leaving  the  color,  for 
the  present  at  least,  to  behave  as  a  hybrid,  to  be  managed  later 
after  the  high  milkers  have  been  isolated. 

Improvement  by  hybridization  complicated.  When  but  one 
nonblending  character  is  involved,  a  full  50  per  cent  of  the 
offspring  of  hybrid  parents  is  pure  as  to  that  character,  it  being 
equally  proportioned  between  the  two  parents. 

If,  however,  another  character  be  involved,  then  only  a  small 
proportion  of  the  offspring  that  are  pure  as  to  the  first  char- 
acter are  pure  also  as  to  the  second  character,  and  so  on  for 
additional  characters. 

If  all  the  desired  characters  are  recessive,  then  all  that  is 
required  is  to  wait  until  the  rare  individual  appears  that  has  these 
characters  and  no  others ;  but  if,  as  in  most  cases,  some  of  the 
characters  sought  to  be  retained  are  dominant,  the  separation  will 
be  a  tedious  operation. 

Mutation  and  mutants.  Accidental  crossing  in  nature  is 
constantly  producing  new  strains,  most  of  which  go  down  in  the 
struggle  for  existence,  but  some  of  which  are  sufficiently  vigor- 
ous and  prolific  to  persist.  They  are  seldom  equally  vigorous  or 
equally  prolific  with  the  parent  strains,  else  they  would  long  ago 
have  developed  into  good  species.   These  strains  can  of  course 


HOW  CHARACTERS  BEHAVE  151 

be  seized  upon  when  found,  and  it  will  be  discovered,  as  we 
should  expect,  that  a  few  of  them  will  breed  true,  but  that  most 
of  them  will  break  up,  like  other  hybrids,  into  a  variety  of  forms. 

Apparently  quite  independent  of  this,  however,  new  forms 
occasionally  arise  by  methods  that  do  not  seem  to  involve  cross- 
ing. For  example,  polled  or  hornless  cattle  occasionally  arise 
spontaneously,  as  we  say  ;  that  is,  without  crossing  or  other 
known  cause.  Albino  strains  arise  frequently  in  nearly  all  races. 
Thus  we  have  white  cattle,  horses,  sheep,  dogs,  cats,  pigs  ;  and, 
among  wild  animals,  deer,  bears,  wolves,  rabbits,  mice,  and  rats, 
most  of  which  are  known  to  breed  pure. 

In  a  few  cases,  notably  with  sheep,  the  albino  strain  has 
been  the  favorite  for  obvious  reasons,  and  the  older  stock,  the 
brown  or  so-called  black  sheep,  is  well-nigh  lost.  With  pigs 
the  preference  is  about  evenly  divided  between  the  black  and 
the  white.i 

Among  plants  mutation  is  even  more  common  or  else  more 
noticeable  than  among  animals,  and  much  of  it  arises  from  what 
is  technically  known  as  bud  variation.  Thus  a  peach  tree  may 
bear  peaches  in  the  usual  way  for  a  number  of  years,  when 
suddenly  one  or  two  limbs  or  possibly  the  entire  tree  may 
bear  a  crop  of  nectarines  for  a  year  or  so,  and  then  resume 
the  bearing  of  peaches. 

The  moss  rose  is  a  mutant  of  the  common  wild  rose,  which 
is  the  parent  of  all  cultivated  varieties.  The  strangest  thing 
about  bud  variation  is  that  the  mutants  thus  arising  often  breed 
true,  as  do  the  moss  rose  and  the  nectarine. 

The  weeping  habit  among  the  willow,  birch,  beech,  and  other 
species  of  trees  ;  the  appearance  of  smooth  among  thorny  or 
hairy  strains,  like  the  smooth  gooseberry ;  and  the  reverse  of 
this,  namely,  the  sudden  appearance  of  hairy  or  fuzzy  strains 
among  the  smooth,  —  all  these  are  now  known  as  mutants. 

1  Certain  red  strains  of  swine  have  been  built  up  mostly  by  selection,  though 
possibly  to  some  extent  by  mutation,  the  only  red  foundation  being  the  reddish- 
tan  tinge  on  the  end  of  the  hair  of  the  wild  boar. 


152         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Such  radical  departures  from  type  were  formerly  recognized 
and  popularly  designated  as  "sports,"  as  if  nature  in  some 
sudden  antic  disposition,  at  play  in  her  workshop,  were  disre- 
garding all  ordinary  laws  of  procedure. 

The  modern  name  of  mutants  is  better,  and  while  these  sud- 
den departures  are  often  independent  of  crossing,  it  is  signifi- 
cant that  they  frequently  breed  true,  showing  that  the  changes 
involved  are  sufficiently  profound  to  affect  the  germ  plasm. 

The  selection  and  isolation  of  desirable  mutants,  therefore, 
constitutes  a  third  method  of  improvement  of  animals  and  plants, 
the  one  most  practiced  by  Luther  Burbank. 

Origin  of  new  and  improved  strains.  Three  methods  of  im- 
provement are  therefore  open  to  the  breeder:  (i)  selection  in 
imitation  of  nature  ;  {2)  crossing,  with  the  understanding  that 
new  strains  may  also  be  shaped  up  by  selection  ;  (3)  mutation, 
the  fortunate  mutants  being  seized  upon  and  made  the  most  of 
as  a  free  gift  of  nature  to  the  breeder's  hand. 

Doubtless  all  these  means  of  changes  in  species  are  in  opera- 
tion everywhere  in  nature.  Darwin  expounded  the  first  and 
De  Vries  the  last,  and  a  multitude  of  evolutionary  literature 
exists.  The  student  who  is  desirous  of  pursuing  the  general 
question  of  origin  of  species  in  nature  will  find  the  subject 
briefly  sketched  in  Chapters  XVII-XXI  of  Part  II,  with  some 
standard  references. 

Summary.  When  distinct  races  are  crossed  hybrids  are  produced  be- 
tween all  the  characters  involved.  Some  of  these  characters  will  blend, 
and  the  result  will  be  a  new  combination  which  will  thereafter  breed  true 
as  regards  all  such  blended  characters. 

But  other  characters  will  not  blend,  remaining  distinct,  in  which  case  the 
gametes  will  continue  to  produce  not  one  new  and  blended  character,  but 
both  old  characters  in  their  original  purity.  Under  the  law  of  chance  one 
fourth  of  the  offspring  would  possess  the  character  of  the  one  parent  in  its 
purity,  one  fourth  that  of  the  other,  and  half  would  remain  hybrid. 

Inasmuch  as  some  characters  are  naturally  dominant  and  others  recessive, 
the  recessive  individuals  can  be  detected  only  where  the  recessive  stands 


HOW  CHARACTERS   BEHAVE 


153 


alone,  the  50  per  cent  hybrids  containing  both  dominant  and  recessive 
being  indistinguishable  from  the  pure  dominants. 

This  applies  to  single  characters  and  not  to  entire  individuals,  which 
rarely  are  all  dominant  or  all  recessive. 

Exercise.  Make  some  crosses  in  corn  and  then  plant  the  crossbred  seed 
and  cross  again  with  a  third  different  color  of  distinct  variety,  as  white, 
yellow,  and  sweet,  or  white,  yellow,  and  red. 

References.  1.  "  Origin  of  Species  by  Means  of  Natural  Selection." 
Darwin. 

2.  "  Origin  of  Species  by  Mutation."    De  Vries. 

3.  "  Mendel's  Principles  of  Heredity."    Bateson. 

4.  "  Principles  of  Breeding  "  (chap,  xiv,  sec.  xii).    Davenport. 


CHAPTER  XII 

HOW  THE  OFFSPRING  COMPARES  WITH  THE  PARENT,  OR 
DESCENT  WITH  MODIFICATION 

The  complex  nature  of  heredity  •  The  offspring  not  Hke  the  parent  • 
Mediocrity  the  common  lot,  whatever  the  parentage ;  regression  •  Some 
offspring  better  and  some  worse  than  their  parents  •  The  exceptional  par- 
ent and  his  offspring  •  Progression  •  The  exceptional  offspring  and  his 
parent  •  Reversion  •  Degeneracy 

Though  the  general  process  of  improvement  by  selection  is 
simple  enough,  certain  additional  facts  and  principles  are  in- 
volved with  which  the  breeder  needs  to  be  acquainted  in  order 
to  make  the  selection  to  the  best  advantage. 

The  complex  nature  of  heredity.  The  most  disconcerting 
principle  in  all  improvement  operations  lies  back  of  the  obvious 
fact  that  the  offspring  is  not  like  the  parent.  Having,  as  he 
nearly  always  does,  two  parents,  he  could  not  of  course  be  like 
them  both.  The  fact  is,  however,  that  for  the  most  part  he  is 
not  like  either  one  of  them,  nor  yet  is  he  like  the  two  combined. 
The  most  that  can  be  said  is  that  the  offspring  resembles  his 
parents,  and  that  all  his  characters  are  to  be  found  somewhere 
in  his  parentage. 

This  all  means  that  transmission  is  more  a  matter  of  family 
or  general  ancestral  influence  than  it  is  of  the  two  particular 
individuals  that  happen  to  be  the  immediate  parents. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  every  individual,  whatever  his 
personality,  transmits  all  the  characters  of  the  race  or  family 
to  which  he  belongs,  and  no  others.  Some  of  these  characters 
may  not  be  evident  in  his  own  make-up,  but  if  they  are  in  the 
blood  of  the  family,  they  will  be  transmitted. 

All  this  is  not  saying  that  all  characters  will  be  transmitted 
with  the  same  intensity  nor  with  the  same  probability  of  being 

154 


DESCENT  WITH  MODIFICATION  155 

evident  in  the  offspring.  Indeed,  it  is  well  known  that  all  char- 
acters are  not  transmitted  with  equal  intensity,  but  that  rather, 
in  general,  the  intensity  of  transmission  is  somewhere  in  pro- 
portion to  the  combined  intensities  of  the  two  parents.  This,  of 
course,  produces  results  quite  different  from  either  parent  taken 
singly,  and  this,  too,  is  true  in  general  only,  and  not  in  every 
individual  instance.  The  visible  characters  of  one  parent,  there- 
fore, or  even  of  both,  are  not  an  absolute  index  of  what  will 
appear  in  the  offspring  any  more  than  they  are  an  absolute  index 
of  their  real  make-up.  Indeed,  there  is  no  guide  to  what  will 
happen  in  individual  cases,  though  enough  studies  have  been 
made  to  show  about  what  does  happen  in  the  long  run  ;  that  is, 
how  offspring  in  general  compare  with  the  parentage. 

The  best  studies  that  have  ever  been  made  in  this  field  were 
those  of  Galton  ^  upon  the  stature  of  English  people.  I  repro- 
duce his  table  here,  for  it  shows,  as  nothing  else  can,  the  rela- 
tion between  offspring  in  general  and  their  parentage,  though  it 
may  be  remarked  that  later  and  similar  studies  confirm  the  prin- 
ciple as  to  other  characters  and  in  other  races,  as  with  milk 
production  in  cattle  (see  ''Principles  of  Breeding,"  p.  498^). 

In  this  table  the  heights  of  928  adult  offspring  are  classified 
and  compared  with  the  stature  of  their  parents.  The  heights 
of  the  offspring  (adult  children)  are  listed  at  the  top  in  columns 
running  from  62.2  inches  and  below  to  73.2  inches  and  above, 
with  intervals  of  one  inch.  The  heights  of  the  midparents  are 
listed  on  the  left  in  groups  also  an  inch  apart,  running  from 
64.5  inches  and  below  to  72.5  inches  and  above. 

By  midparental  height  is  meant  one  half  the  combined  height 
of  father  and  mother  after  increasing  the  mother  s  height  by 
one  eighth  (12.5  percent),  because  Galton  found  that  in  general 
women  are  one  eighth  shorter  than  men,  or  rather  that  their 
height  must  be  multiplied  by  1.08  to  convert  them  into  "  male 
equivalents."     In  this  table  all   female  statures  have  been  so 

1  An  English  scientist,  cousin  of  Darwin,  and  author  of  "Natural  Inherit- 
ance," which  see,  together  with  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  pp.  479-482. 


156        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


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DESCENT  WITH  MODIFICATION  157 

treated,  thus  eliminating  tlie  matter  of  sex,  and  all  the  "  chil- 
dren," 1  whether  male  or  female,  are  thus  considered  as  males. 
The  rest  of  the  table  is  self-explanatory.  The  heights  of  mid- 
parents  are  classified  to  half  inches  and  recorded  in  the  column 
at  the  left.  The  height  of  each  adult  "  child  "  is  recorded  in  its 
proper  column  and  in  a  row  opposite  the  height  of  his  mid- 
parent,  after  which  totals  are  added  both  ways. 

Thus  we  see  that  of  the  whole  928  people  whose  stature  was 
taken,  120  were  68.3  inches  high  (see  column  9).  Of  these, 
I  was  born  from  72. 5 -inch  parents  ;  3  were  born  from  7 1.5 -inch 
parents  ;  12  were  born  from  70. 5 -inch  parents,  and  so  on  from 
the  shorter  parentage.  In  all  there  were  928  children  and  205 
pairs  of  parents,  —  of  course  duplicated  in  the  case  of  brothers. 

We  are  now  ready  to  look  a  little  further  into  the  meaning  of 
this  table. 

The  offspring  not  like  the  parent.  The  very  first  fact  that 
attracts  our  attention  in  this  table  is  that  the  offspring  are  not 
much  like  their  immediate  parents,  but  that  all  sorts  of  parents 
(short,  medium,  or  tall)  produce  all  sorts  of  children  (short, 
medium,  or  tall),  and  that  the  correspondence  in  height  be- 
tween specific  parents  and  their  particular  offspring  is  not  very 
close.  In  other  words,  like  offspring  may  be  produced  by  very 
dissimilar  parents  (see  any  column  of  the  table)  ;  and,  corre- 
spondingly, like  parents,  or  even  the  same  parents,  in  succes- 
sive generations,  may  produce  very  dissimilar  offspring  (see  any 
row  in  the  table,  as,  for  example,  the  very  variable  offspring  of 
68. 5 -inch  midparents).  This  important  fact  lies  at  the  basis  of 
all  breeding,  as  it  does  of  most  sociological  questions,  involving 
parentage. 

Mediocrity  the  common  lot,  whatever  the  parentage  ;  re- 
gression. Looked  at  closely,  mediocrity  seems  to  be  the  com- 
mon lot.    The  average  height  of  the  people  in  this  table  is 

1  The  student  must  remember  that  in  this  case  the  word  "  children  "  is  used 
to  mean  simply  oifspring  in  general.  These  children  were  fully  grown,  and 
their  heights  are  strictly  comparable  with  those  of  their  parents. 


158        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

about  68.6  inches  for  parents  and  68.0  inches  for  children 
(see  columns  17  and  16).  The  most  significant  fact  about  this 
table  is  its  tendency  to  cluster  about  these  average  values,  which 
are  nearest  represented  by  column  9  and  row  g.  Where  these 
two  lines  cross  is  the  densest  part  of  the  table,  —  around  the 
number  34.  Note,  too,  how  the  arrays  (columns  or  rows  of 
figures)  resemble  the  frequency  distribution  with  which  we 
became  familiar  in  the  chapter  on  Type  and  Variability.  Each 
of  these  arrays  has  the  characteristic  shape,  —  large  in  the 
middle,  dwindling  at  both  ends.  Moreover,  this  large  middle 
is  in  all  cases,  whatever  the  parentage,  not  far  from  the  middle, 
point  of  this  table,  though  the  table  is  somewhat  skewed  by 
the  difference  in  the  parental  heights.  To  note  more  particu- 
larly, consider  the  offspring  of  about  the  average  parent  (68.5 
inches,  row  g).  Though  these  parents  were  all  of  an  even 
height,  their  offspring  were  distributed  from  below  62.2  inches 
to  73.2,  but  the  largest  number  (48)  is  very  near  to  the  average 
of  the  race. 

Again,  note  the  offspring  of  the  65.5-inch  parents,  which  are 
below  the  average  height  of  parents.  Here  the  range  in  the  off- 
spring is  from  below  62.2  inches,  as  before,  but  stops  at  72.2, 
with  the  highest  numbers  (11)  at  66.2  and  67.2,  both  taller 
than  their  parents.  Indeed,  of  this  whole  population  of  66 
children  of  the  65.5-inch  parents,  all  but  22,  or  exactly  two 
thirds,  are  better  than  their  parents. 

Still  again,  note  the  offspring  of  the  7 1.5 -inch  parents,  which 
are  extremely  tall.  Here  the  range  is  from  65.2  inches  to  above 
73.2,  or  over  an  inch  shorter  than  their  parents.  Again,  of  the 
43  children  of  these  extremely  tall  parents,  30,  or  nearly  three 
fourths,  are  shorter  than  their  parents.  Again,  of  the  43  chil- 
dren of  these  extremely  tall  parents,  30,  or  nearly  three  fourths, 
are  shorter  than  their  parents. 

The  principle  is,  that  whatever  the  parents,  —  short,  medium, 
or  tall,  —  the  offspring  tend  strongly  toward  the  mean  of  the 
race.    This  principle  of  tendency  toward  mediocrity  is  known 


DESCENT  WITH  MODIFICATION  159 

as  regression  or  the  pull  of  the  ancestry.  The  reason  of  it  is 
that  some  of  these  short  parents  are  children  of  tall  people,  and 
in  these  cases  the  height  is  helped  out  by  the  stature  of  the 
grandparent.  Also,  some  of  the  extremely  tall  parents  were 
themselves  children  of  short  grandparents,  all  of  which  lessens 
greatly  their  powers  of  transmitting  as  much  stature  as  they 
themselves  possess. 

Some  offspring  better  and  some  worse  than  their  parents. 
A  careful  study  of  this  table  shows  that  whatever  the  parent, 
whether  mediocre,  inferior,  or  exceptional,  the  offspring  will 
take  the  form  of  a  distribution  extending  both  ways  from  a 
mean  or  mode,  said  mean  or  mode  being  not  far  from  that  of 
the  parent.  If  the  parent  is  above  the  average  of  the  race,  the 
majority  of  the  offspring  will  be  below  the  parent ;  if,  however, 
the  parent  is  below  the  average,  then  the  majority  of  the  off- 
spring will  be  better  than  their  parents. 

The  exceptional  parent  and  his  offspring.  There  is  a  foolish 
notion  that  preachers'  sons  are  especially  likely  to  go  wild.  Let 
us  analyze  this  problem  in  the  light  of  this  table.  In  the  first 
place,  admitting  the  parent  to  be  exceptional,  what  are  the 
chances  of  the  offspring  being  also  exceptional  ?  This  is  an 
important  question,  —  indeed,  one  of  the  most  important  in 
all  studies  in  heredity. 

Substituting  general  excellence  in  place  of  stature  for  the 
moment,  let  us  refer  to  the  table.  We  see  at  once  that  an  excep- 
tional parent,  or  even  an  exceptional  midparent,  which  means 
two  exceptional  parents,  is  by  no  means  certain  of  exceptional 
offspring,  unless,  indeed,  the  exceptional  quality  is  of  many 
generations  standing.  Take  the  case  of  the  70..  5 -inch  parents, 
—  two  inches  above  the  average.  Of  their  entire  offspring  (68), 
I  was  almost  a  dwarf,  5 1  were  shorter  than  their  parents,  and 
7  were  distinctly  below  the  average  of  the  race.  This  is  one 
side  of  the  question  and  accounts  for  the  physiological  fact  that 
presidents,  preachers,  and  other  notable  men  are  bound  to  pro- 
duce some  very  ordinary  people,  all  of  which  helps  us  to  realize 


l6o        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

that  mediocrity  is  the  most  common  and  the  most  Hkely  lot  of 
man,  and  that  regression  is  always  at  work. 

Progression.  Now  let  us  look  at  the  other  side  of  the  ques- 
tion and  see  what  is  to  be  found  after  having  disposed  of  this 
relatively  large  number  of  mediocre  individuals,  and  let  us  see 
if,  after  all,  the  exceptional  parent  has  not  something  to  his 
advantage  in  the  matter  of  offspring. 

Note  again  that  the  other  end  of  this  array  of  the  offspring 
of  the  70. 5 -inch  parents  shows  17  individuals,  or  exactly  one 
fourth,  better  than  their  exceptionally  good  parents.  Not  only 
is  this  true,  but  the  higher  we  get  among  the  exceptional  parents, 
—  71.5,  72.5,  etc.,  — the  more  is  this  true  and  the  larger  is  the 
proportion  of  exceptional  offspring.  This  is  progression,  and,  as 
a  principle,  it  is  just  as  true  and  just  as  much  to  be  counted  on 
as  are  regression  and  mediocrity. 

This  principle  of  progression  is  the  one  that  insures  the 
results  from  natural  selection  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest  in 
nature,  just  as  it  is  the  one  that  insures  that  selection  anyzvhere 
will  be  followed  by  offspring,  some  portion  of  which,  7tot  all,  will 
be  a  distinct  improveme^it  over  even  their  exceptional  parents. 
It  is  on  this  principle  that  we  rely  for  most  of  our  improvement 
of  domesticated  animals  and  plants,  and  as  it  is  the  most  impor- 
tant principle  in  evolution,  the  student  is  urged  to  remember  it. 

The  promptness  and  rapidity  with  which  improvement  follows 
selection  under  this  principle  of  progression  is  best  shown  by 
the  opposite  table  exhibiting  the  results  of  Dr.  Hopkins's  ex- 
periments in  altering  the  oil  content  of  the  grain  of  corn. 

In  this  experiment  ears  of  the  highest  and  others  of  the 
lowest  oil  content  obtainable  were  planted  in  successive  years. 
The  table  shows  the  results  in  the  crop  both  as  to  distribution 
and  average  for  each  of  nine  years,  and  is  the  best  exhibition 
known  to  the  author  of  the  principle  of  progression  and  the 
results  of  selection. 

In  the  study  of  this  table  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  oil  content 
of  the  original  seed  was  4.70  per  cent,  but  that  the  strain 


DESCENT  WITH  MODIFICATION 


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1 62         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

selected  for  high  oil  produced  in  the  ninth  year  a  crop  as  high 
as  7.29  per  cent  oil  and  one  as  low  as  2.58  per  cent.  Note, 
also,  the  rapid  rate  at  which  the  distributions  separate  from 
each  other, — so  rapid,  indeed,  that  in  the  fourth  crop  (1900)  they 
no  longer  overlap  but  entirely  part  company  ;  that  is,  the  lowest 
of  the  high  oil  is  higher  than  the  highest  of  the  low  oil.^ 

If  the  offspring  of  the  exceptional  parent  is  in  many  cases  so 
decidedly  exceptional,  how  did  the  tradition  start  about  the 
mediocre  sons  of  great  men  ?  Naturally  enough.  Some  of  these 
sons  are  truly  mediocre,  even  inferior,  as  we  have  seen,  and  in 
this,  as  in  other  matters,  a  few  cases  make  a  great  impression, 
provided  they  are  sufficiently  striking.  Every  preacher's  son  that 
goes  wrong  attracts  special  attention,  — '-  even  more  attention  than 
does  the  long  line  of  divines  like  the  Edwardses  or  the  Adamses, 
in  which  greatness  almost  invariably  descended  from  father  to 
son  for  many  generations.  This  impression  is  akin  to  that 
other  popular  fallacy  that  people  choose  opposites  in  matrimony  ; 
that  is,  that  tall  people  prefer  short  mates  ;  dark-haired  prefer 
light ;  phlegmatic  prefer  vivacious,  etc.  Now  the  facts  are,  so 
far  as  they  have  been  studied,  that  people  prefer  and  choose 
their  like  to  a  surprisingly  large  degree.  For  example,  the 
correlation  or  ratio  of  correspondence  between  husbands  and 
wives  amounts  to  0.28  in  stature  and  about  the  same  in  eye 
and  hair  color,  whereas  if  they  tended  to  choose  opposites, 
it  would  be  negative,  and  if  they  were  indifferent,  it  would  be 
zero.  The  fact  is,  that  if  we  see  one  tall  woman  with  a  little 
husband,  or  the  reverse,  the  grotesqueness  of  it  all  strikes  our 
attention  and  we  remark  about  it,  reminding  ourselves  again  of 
the  "law  of  dissimilars"  ;  whereas  we  fail  to  notice  the  large 
number  of  properly  assorted  people  that  pass  and  repass,  and 
thus  overlook  the  real  law  that  men  and  women  in  general  mate 
by  similarities  and  get  along  best  when  they  do  so.  These  few 
illustrations  will  show  the  need  of  accurate  and  somewhat  exten- 
sive observation  before  hastening  to  generalization. 

^  F^or  a  fuller  discussion,  see  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  pp.  492-499. 


DESCENT  WITH  MOrJIFICATION  163 

The  exceptional  offspring  and  his  parent.  A  glance  at  the  table 
on  page  156  will  show  another  great  principle  in  transmission, 
namely,  that  a  given  class  of  offspring  may  be  produced  in  vari- 
ous ways.  For  example,  the  heights  of  offspring  as  recorded  in 
column  1 3  are  clearly  exceptional.  These  people  are  over  six  feet 
tall,  but  they  were  produced  by  all  sorts  of  parents  from  72.5  inches 
doivn  to  6s. S-  While  the  parents  were  thus  distributed,  yet  the 
greatest  rmmber  of  exceptional  people  (11)  came  from  mediocre 
parentage,  but  the  greatest  proportion  of  tall  people  came  from 
extremely  tall  parentage.  Thus  the  1 1  of  this  column  were  the 
product  of  183  families  (see  column  16);  while  as  many  as  7 
were  produced  by  19  midparents  that  were  three  inches  taller, 
—  another  evidence  of  regression  and  of  progression  as  well. 

Reversion.  When  we  see  how  many  tall  people  beget  short 
children  and  how  many  tall  children  come  of  short  parents  (see 
rows  h  and  k  in  the  table),  we  are  not  surprised  that  occasion- 
ally an  unaccountable  case  will  turn  up,  as  when  a  red-headed 
boy  is  born  of  black-haired  parents,  and  nobody  can  remember 
even  a  red-headed  grandparent.  Aye,  remember  ;  there  's  the 
trouble..  The  total  ancestry  runs  back  for  many  generations  and 
we  remember  but  a  few,  —  rarely  back  of  the  grandparent,  — 
whereas  each  of  us  has  over  two  thousand  ancestors  within  ten 
generations.  In  the  case  of  the  red-headed  boy  some  one  of  them 
was  in  all  likelihood  red-headed,  and  this  that  has  turned  up  is 
a  "  reversion  "  to  that  ancestor  ;  for  every  individual  transmits 
all  the  characters  of  his  ancestry,  and  anything  that  is  trans- 
mitted may  at  any  time  become  dominant  and  then  visible. 
That  is  about  all  there  is  of  the  matter  of  reversion  or  throw- 
ing back,  about  which  such  a  "to  do"  has  been  made.  As  a 
physiological  fact  it  is  interesting ;  as  a  matter  in  plant  or 
animal  improvement  it  hardly  applies,  for  as  soon  as  systematic 
selection  is  a  little  while  practiced,  the  chance  of  reversion 
rapidly  reduces  to  practically  nothing. 

Degeneracy.  This  is  a  matter  of  importance  in  human  affairs 
rather  than  in  those  of  the  animal  and  plant,  but  facts  such  as 


1 64        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

this  table  shows,  lead  us  to  look  with  suspicion  upon  the  indi- 
vidual that  is  *'  born  short."  He  may  be  the  offspring  of  excel- 
lent parentage,  as  in  column  2,  rows  e  and  g,  in  which  case  the 
pull  of  regression  will  be  greatly  in  his  favor.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  may  be  the  product  of  bad  parentage,  as  in  column  2, 
rows  k,  /,  and  m,  in  which  cases  the  matter  is  well-nigh  hopeless, 
as  many  a  poor  girl  has  found,  who  has  married  a  scamp  to 
"  reform  him."  He  has  broken  her  heart  and  wasted  her  life 
all  because  she  did  not  know  ,the  simplest  facts  about  transmis- 
sion. If  a  man  is  well  born,  it  is  upon  him  to  show  his  breeding, 
if  he  can,  and  if  not,  to  prove  that  his  ancestry  was  at  least 
respectable  and  not  much  below  mediocrity ;  and  if  he  cannot  do 
this,  he  is  a  great  risk  as  a  partner  in  any  business.  Disregard 
of  these  simple  facts  is  responsible  for  the  wholesale  production 
of  hereditary  criminals,  and  until  laws  are  framed  and  executed 
to  prevent  unbridled  reproduction  among  degenerates,  we  shall 
continue  to  sow  the  wind  and  reap  the  whirlwind.  Visit  our 
prisons  and  poorhouses  and  be  convinced  that  while  some  of 
the  inmates  are  normal  men  with  a  bad  history,  most  of  them 
are  there  because  of  their  unfortunate  ancestry.  The  sooner  we 
realize  that,  on  the  average,  men  are  about  what  their  ancestry 
as  a  whole  is,  the  better  it  will  be  both  for  individuals  and  for 
the  community.  Study  the  left-hand  side  of  the  table  in  breed- 
ing com  for  high  and  low  oil  (p.  161),  and  see  how  rapidly  de- 
generation proceeds  when  parentage  is  restricted  to  inferior 
lines.  Then  also  reflect  on  the  danger  of  reversion  if  inferior 
blood  is  mixed  with  the  good.  The  only  safety  in  human  af- 
fairs, as  in  those  of  animals  and  plants,  lies  in  a  long  line  of 
selected  ancestry  or,  in  other  words,  in  good  blood. 

All  characters  that  have  ever  been  studied  behave  substantially 
the  same  as  stature,  and  this  table  of  Galton's,  therefore,  may 
be  regarded  as  exhibiting  the  general  law  of  heredity  for  all 
characters.  By  this  we  see  that  we  are  not  to  expect  that  the 
offspring  will  be  like  the  parent  except  in  a  general  way,  and 
within  more  or  less  general  limits  ;  that  we  need  not  be  surprised 


DESCENT  WITH  MODIFICATION  165 

at  almost  anything  that  may  happen  in  individual  cases,  from 
which  we  infer  that  we  shall  never  be  able  to  predict  from  the 
parents  what  a  particular  offspring  will  be,  but  that  we  can  tell 
very  close  as  to  what  they  will  be  in  the  long  run  and  on  the 
average ;  and  that  the  more  uniform  the  ancestry,  the  more 
accurate  will  the  prediction  be,  and  the  more  uniformity  will 
there  be  among  individuals.  We  see,  too,  by  the  principle  of 
progression,  that  under  selection  the  correspondence  between 
parent  and  offspring  becomes  rapidly  closer. 

Summary.  The  individual  offspring  is  seldom  like  the  parent.  It  may 
be  better  (progression)  or  it  may  be  worse  (regression),  but  in  general  the 
offspring  is  like  the  parentage  as  a  whole.  More  exceptional  offspring  arise 
from  common  parentage  than  from  exceptional  parentage  because  mediocrity 
is  the  common  lot,  yet  the  proportion  of  exceptional  offspring  is  higher  from 
the  exceptional  parent  than  from  the  mediocre. 

Reversion  shows  that  as  long  as  even  a  trace  of  old-time  characters 
exists,  the  gametes  are  not  absolutely  pure,  and  an  occasional  appearance  of 
such  ancient  characters  is  inevitable.  Being  ancient,  they  are  correlated 
with  others,  and  are  likely  to  creep  upon  the  breeder  unawares,  like  the  high 
shoulders  and  thin  flanks  of  cattle,  or  the  inferior  hams  of  pigs. 

The  offspring,  therefore,  is  to  be  considered  not  so  much  the  product  of 
his  personal  parents  as  of  his  parentage  as  a  whole. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  LAW  OF  ANCESTRAL  HEREDITY  i 

The  extent  to  which  the  offspring  resembles  the  parent  and  the  extent  to 
which  he  resembles  more  remote  ancestors  •  Chance  of  resembling  a  partic- 
ular individual  ancestor  •  The  individual  a  composite  •  The  number  "  two  " 

The  extent  to  which  the  offspring  resembles  the  parent  and 
the  extent  to  which  he  resembles  more  remote  ancestors.    We 

have  seen  already  that  all  individuals  transmit  and  all  individuals 
possess  more  unit  characters  than  can  possibly  be  fully  developed 
and  represented  in  visible  form  in  their  own  personality ;  that 
is,  every  race  is  rich  in  characters,  —  so  rich  that  not  all  of  them 
can  be  utilized  in  the  make-up  of  any  single  individual. 

We  understand,  then,  that  the  offspring  gets  all  his  char- 
acters from  and  through  his  immediate  parents ;  there  is  no 
other  source.  We  understand,  too,  that  he  gets  not  only  those 
that  were  specially  developed  in  the  personality  of  the  parents, 
but  all  others  of  the  race  as  well,  and  that  out  of  these  the 
personality  of  the  offspring  will  be  developed. 

We  understand,  also,  that  the  intensity  of  transmission  is  in 
proportion  to  intensity  of  possession,  and  this  for  the  most  part 
corresponds  fairly  well  to  the  intensity  of  infusion  of  the  racial 
characters  among  the  back  ancestors ;  that  is  to  say,  if  a  char- 
acter is  present  in  all  the  ancestors,  it  will  almost  certainly 
appear  in  the  offspring,  while  if  it  is  present  in  but  half  of  the 
ancestry,  the  chances  are  even  that  it  will  be  transmitted  in  the 
latent  form. 

All  things  considered,  therefore,  we  should  not  expect  the  off- 
spring to  be  like  the  parent,  unless  the  ancestry  were  so  pure 

1  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  this  subject,  see  "  Principles  of  lireeding," 
PP-  525-534- 

166 


THE  LAW  OF  ANCESTRAL  HEREDITY  167 

or  the  characters  so  few  that  all  individuals  are  practically  iden- 
tical. This  could  not  be  in  a  race  so  rich  in  characters  as  man 
or  even  the  common  domesticated  animals,  which  differ  so  de- 
cidedly in  form,  color,  activity,  and  mental  qualities,  besides 
many  internal  activities  that  cannot  be  readily  detected. 

We  should  however  expect  that  the  offspring  would  resemble 
the  immediate  parents  more  closely  than  any  other  ancestors  on 
the  score  of  relative  intensities  and  nearness  of  blood,  and  this 
expectation  is  fulfilled. 

Galton  and  Pearson  have  given  much  study  to  this  question, 
and,  arriving  at  results  from  independent  standpoints  and  by 
methods  quite  distinct,  agree  on  the  following  formula  as  ex- 
pressing what,  on  the  average,  is  the  degree  of  resemblance  to 
be  expected  between  the  offspring  and  the  several  generations 
of  ancestors  backward  :  J,  J,  \,  ^^g,  ^■^,  etc.,  to  infinity. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  each  fraction  of  this  series  is  exactly 
half  of  the  preceding  fraction  ;  also  that  if  the  series  be  carried 
to  infinity,  the  fractions  would  add  up  to  i,  thus  accounting  for 
the  total  inheritance.  This  means,  substantially,  that  in  general 
and  on  the  average  the  offspring  will  resemble,  to  the  extent  of 
half  his  personality,  the  two  immediate  parents,  and  of  course 
will  divide  that  resemblance  between  them  equally.^  To  the  ex- 
tent of  one  fourth  of  his  appearance  he  would  resemble  his 
grandparents,  the  resemblance  being  distributed  between  the 
four.  One  eighth  of  his  visible  characters  may  be  credited  to 
the  next  generation  (great-grandparents),  one  sixteenth  to  the 
next,  etc.,  indefinitely  backward,  thus  accounting  for  all  sorts  of 
remote  resemblances  or  atavisms. 

All  this  is  not  saying  that  every  individual  will  thus  accurately 
divide  his  resemblances,  but  it  is  saying  that  for  large  numbers 
the  resemblances  will  be  found  to  follow  this  plan,  and  wherever 


1  This  may  seem  wrong  to  the  reader,  because  the  offspring  will  resemble 
more  closely  the  better  bred  parent.  That,  however,  as  we  shall  see,  is  due  to 
the  influence  back  of  the  parent.  If  the  breeding  were  good  enough,  all  the 
ancestors  would  be  alike. 


1 68        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

it  has  been  tested  on  a  large  scale,  as  in  the  color  of  dogs,  theory 
is  found  to  be  true  to  the  facts. 

This  series  of  fractions,  therefore,  may  be  taken  as  a  good 
statement  of  the  law  of  ancestral  heredity,  or  the  probable  re- 
semblances between  successive  generations  of  the  same  family 
line,  whether  the  line  be  of  pure  or  of  mixed  breeding.  Of 
course,  as  has  been  observed,  if  the  line  be  extremely  well 
selected  and  closely  bred,  then  all  resemblances  will  be  close, 
and  it  may  even  look  as  if  the  resemblance  to  the  immediate 
parents  is  absolute ;  but  this  is  only  because  the  near  and  the 
remote  ancestors  are  alike,  and  a  little  study  of  species  in  general 
will  convince  the  student  that  the  natural  proportions  are  as 
stated,  which  series  also  represents  the  relative  degree  of  rela- 
tionship and  intensities  as  can  be  represented  by  no  other  series 
of  fractions  that  could  be  arranged. 

Chance  of  resembling  a  particular  individual  ancestor.  This 
series  of  fractions  refers  to  generations,  not  to  individual  an- 
cestors. Each  must  be  divided  by  the  number  of  individuals  of 
that  generation  in  order  to  get  the  chance  of  the  offspring 
resembling  any  particular  ancestor,  say,  the  paternal  grand- 
mother. The  following  table  gives  in  condensed  form  this  series 
of  fractions,  thus  apportioned  among  the  individual  ancestors. 


Effective  Heritage  contributed  by  Each  Generation  and 

BY  Each  Separate  Ancestor  according  to  the 

Law  of  Ancestral  Heredity 


Generation 

Contribution  of  each 

Number  of  an- 

Contribution of  each 

backward 

generation 

cestors  involved 

ancestor 

I 

i 

2 

i 

2 

i 

4 

T^^ 

3 

i 

8 

^ 

4 

^ 

i6 

^h 

5 

irV 

32 

T^,l 

6 

bV 

64 

TSW 

From  this  we  see  that  an  individual  five  generations  back  stands 
but  one  chance  in  over  a  thousand  of  impressing  a  character 


THE  LAW  OF  ANCESTRAL  HEREDITY  169 

upon  the  offspring,  and  this  chance  grows  rapidly  less  as  we  go 
backward,  never,  however,  becomirig  zero  ;  so  that  it  is  possible 
that  resemblances  to  any  ancestor,  no  matter  how  far  removed, 
may  crop  out  in  individual  case^  from  time  to  time,  giving 
strange  but  not  unaccountable  cases  of  reversion.  These  are  ex- 
tremely noticeable,  first,  from  their  variety ;  and  second,  from  the 
fact  that  complete  ignorance  generally  surrounds  all  ancestry 
more  than  a  generation  or  two  back.  What  chance  is  there;  for 
example,  for  knowing  much  about  the  separate  characters  of 
each  of  the  thirty  individuals  involved  in  the  first  four  genera- 
tions only  .?  The  next- generation  backward  would  add  thirty-two 
more,  showing  how  rapidly  the  transmission  becomes  compli- 
cated, particularly  when  we  remember  that  all  the  ancestry  has 
contributed  to  the  individual. 

The  individual  a  composite.  This  makes  it  look  as  if  the 
individual  were  pretty  well  distributed  among  his  ancestry  from 
his  parents  backward,  and  that  is  exactly  the  condition  of  matters. 
The  individual  is  a  kind  of  mosaic,  taking  a  portion  (on  the 
average  one  half)  of  his  reseniblances  from  his  parents,  others 
from  his  grandparents,  and  still  others  from  earlier  ancestors, 
even  to  the  remote  past. 

At  first  thought  this  may  seem  impossible,  but  upon  careful 
research  we  find  that  racial  characters  are  but  loosely  held  to- 
gether, ^  and  it  is  only  upon  reflection  that  we  realize  the  extent 
to  which  combinations  and  recombinations  take  place  and  how 
resemblances  come  and  go  in  a  long  line  of  ancestry. 

In  this  way  an  individual  may  seem  in  some  particular  to  re- 
semble, we  will  say,  the  paternal  grandsire,  whereas  the  actual 
resemblance  is  not  only  to  him  but  to  perhaps  a  score  or  more 
of  similar  ancestors  still  further  back  and  long  forgotten,  but 
whose  blood   lines   combined   with   and   intensifying  those   of 

1  Shown  by  the  fact  that  the  "  correlation  "  or  bond  that  compels  characters 
to  move  together  is  very  low,  seldom  as  much  as  50  per  cent,  so  that  almost 
literally  it  is  a  free-for-all  contest  when  matters  of  hereditary  resemblances 
are  being  determined.  For  a  full  discussion  of  Correlation,  see  "  Principles  of 
Breeding,"  chap.  xiii. 


170        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

the  grandparent  in  this  particular  character  bring  it  suddenly 
into  prominence. 

The  number  "  two.*'  The  student  cannot  fail  to  be  struck 
with  the  extent  to  which  the  number  "two"  figures  in  these 
affairs.  The  product  of  mixed  breeding,  if  unrestricted,  follows 
the  binomial  formula,  giving  definite  mathematical  proportions 
to  the  combinations  of  characters.  The  normal  distribution 
when  studying  type  follows  the  same  formula,  and  the  law  of 
ancestral  heredity  is  made  up  of  fractions  derived  from  the 
universal  '*  two." 

This  is  not  accidental,  but  perfectly  natural.  Inheritance 
everywhere  is  the  result  of  combinations  of  characters  from  two 
parents ;  not  only  that,  but  all  growth  is  the  result  of  cell  divi- 
sion, which  means  parting  into  two,  so  that  the  number  ''  two  " 
lies  at  the  very  base  of  all  affairs  involving  transmission.  It  is 
not  strange,  therefore,  that  the  whole  matter  rests  on  a  definite 
mathematical  basis,  that  the  chance  combinations  of  characters 
can  be  predicted  in  the  long  run,  or  that  the  law  of  ancestral 
resemblances  should  be  the  very  remarkable  series  ^,  \,  |, 
etc.  It  really  could  not  be  otherwise,  with  bisexual  reproduc- 
tion and  with  growth  by  cell  division  involving  a  splitting 
of  the  chromosomes  as  the  two  characteristic  attendants  upon 
heredity. 

Summary.  The  offspring  is  a  composite  of  all  the  blood  of  all  his  an- 
cestors in  proportions  fairly  definite.  We  cannot  predict  what  the  individual 
may  be,  but  of  large  numbers  we  can  predict  that  their  resemblances  to  ances- 
tral traits  will  follow  the  series  ^,  |,  ^,  etc.,  in  which  the  two  immediate 
parents  divide  between  them  the  chances  of  impressing  the  offspring ;  and 
the  other  fractions  are  each  divisible  by  the  number  of  ancestors  of  the 
corresponding  generation,  so  that  of  large  numbers  of  offspring  a  certain 
definite  number  (25  per  cent  of  all)  will  resemble  the  one  parent  with  respect 
to  any  given  unit  character,  25  per  cent  will  resemble  the  other  parent  in 
respect  to  the  same  character,  and  the  remaining  resemblances  will  be 
distributed  proportionately  among  the  back  ancestors.  The  number  "  two  " 
characterizes  all  reproduction,  which  therefore  tends  to  conform  to  the 
binomial  theorem. 


CHAPTER   XIV 
HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT 

Mistaken  estimate  of  environment  •  All  the  characters  of  the  race,  both  good 

and  bad,  are  transmitted  to  the  individual  by  his  parentage  •  The  function 

of  environment  is    to  assist  or  to  hinder  in  development  •  Environment 

does  not  add  unit  characters  •  Modifications  due  to  environment 

Mistaken  estimate  of  environment.  There  has  been  handed 
down  to  us  from  our  ancestors,  by  way  of  tradition,  an  altogether 
false  estimate  of  the  role  of  environment  in  matters  of  evolu- 
tion and  of  life.  This  false  estimate  arose  naturally  as  the  result 
of  the  old-time  assumption  that  all  men  were  born  alike,  and 
whether  they  turned  out  to  be  good  or  bad  depended  entirely 
upon  the  influences  by  which  they  were  surrounded. 

Now  no  one  can  overestimate  the  power  of  good  opportu- 
nities or  the  danger  of  bad  influences,  but  it  is  highly  desirable 
that  we  understand  the  facts  as  they  actually  are. 

All  the  characters  of  the  race,  both  good  and  bad,  are  trans- 
mitted to  the  individual  by  his  parentage.  We  have  seen 
already  that  every  individual  possesses  all  the  characters  of  the 
race,  because  he  can  transmit  them.  Many  of  them  may  be 
undeveloped  and  invisible,  and  therefore  we  may  not  know  that 
he  possesses  them  till  we  see  his  progeny  under  favorable  con- 
ditions for  their  development ;  but  we  may  be  assured  that  they 
are  there  in  some  degree  of  intensity,  if  they  were  known  ever 
to  have  existed  in  the  ancestry.  Whether  they  develop  or  not 
will  depend  upon  two  factors  :  first,  their  inherent  relative  inten- 
sity ;  and  second,  the  accident  as  to  whether  conditions  of  life 
are  favorable  or  unfavorable. 

I  have  been  careful  to  say  "transmitted  by  his  parentage," 
not  "  his  parents."    They  came  through  his  parents,  it  is  true, 

171 


172        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

for  there  was  no  other  way,  and  in  that  sense  they  came  by  them  ; 
but  the  responsibihty  may,  as  we  now  know,  lie  far  back  of  the 
immediate  parent.  Of  all  this  we  have  abundant  illustrations  in 
both  the  plant  and  animal  world.  In  mixed  breeding,  under 
Mendel's  law,  we  have  seen  already  how  long  a  character  may 
linger  and  how  easily  it  may  outcrop  even  .generations  later. 
Reversions  and  the  law  of  ancestral  heredity  teach  us  the  same 
truth,  namely,  that  all  races  have  an  exceeding][y  mixed  ancestry, 
partly  desirable  and  partly  undesirable,  and  t^at  all  races  have 
more  characters  than  can  be  fiilly  developed  in  any  individual 
or  under  any  single  set  of  conditions. 

The  dog,  our  most  faithful  friend,  is,  after  all,  a  descendant 
of  the  wild  wolves  of  the  forest,  and  he  still,  possesses  some  of 
the  ancient  instinct  to  trail,  to  hunt,  and  to  kill.  In  many  cases, 
under  unfavorable  conditions,  this  wild  instinct  gets  the  better  of 
him  and  he  becomes  a  dangerous  animal,  fhe  breeding  of  bull- 
dogs for  ferocity  is  attended  with  great  danger,  because  this 
particular  trait  is  so  closely  in  line  with  the  old-time  instincts 
of  the  savage  ancestors.  The  only  protection  of  the  horse  is 
flight,  and  we  all  know  by  experience  that  jsome  individuals  are 
by  nature  so  timid  that  under  unfavorable. conditions  they  will 
run  away  and  are  ever  after  unreliable. 

Many  individuals  of  our  own  race  are , unfortunately  "born 
short "  ;  that  is,  with  the  better  characters  weak  and  those  of 
savagery  relatively  strong.  Such  men  are  almost  certain  to  be 
dangerous  even  under  the  best  conditions.  Unfortunately,  too, 
many  who  are  better  born  have  yet  enough  of  the  barbarous  to 
develop  under  unfavorable  conditions  a.rvd  make  them,  too,  dan- 
gerous, when  under  good  conditions  tjiey  would  have  been 
harmless.  It  is  highly  desirable  that,  the  best  conditions  pos- 
sible be  maintained,  not  only  to  prevent  as  many  as  may  be 
from  going  wrong,  but  also  to  help  us  Xq  know  and  to  sort  out 
the  real  degenerate,  who  is  bound  to  go,^rong  anyhow.  Again, 
and  aside  from  all  this,  nobody  knows  exactly  what  his  own 
ancestry  is,  —  just  what  traits  of  characjter  arc  waiting  only  for 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT  173 

favorable  conditions  for  development,  nor  just  how  much  he 
can  endure  in  the  way  of  adverse  circumstances  without  some 
of  the  more  undesirable  characters  of  his  family  line  under- 
going development  and  getting  the  upper  hand. 

By  any  afid  all  counts,  with  our  animals  and  plants  and  with 
ourselves  wfe  are  bound  to  maintain  the  most  favorable  environ- 
ment possible,  but  it  should  be  on  the  score  of  its  influence 
upon  development,  not  under  the  mistaken  idea  that  it  can  take 
the  place  of  heredity  or  in  any  other  way  compensate  for  the 
failure  of  inheritance  or  mistakes  of  the  ancestors. 

The  function  of  environment  is  to  assist  or  to  hinder  in 
development.  If  environment  is  then  so  mighty  a  factor,  is  not 
the  old  tradition  right  after  all  ?  No.  The  characters  of  the 
family  linfe  are  planted  before  birth  by  the  particular  ancestry, 
whatever  that  may  be.  In  all  cases  they  are  both  good  and  bad. 
In  the  bdst  families  and  the  purest  blood,  plant  or  animal,  the 
bad  havd  been,  reduced  to  a  relatively  low  intensity  and  a  cor- 
responding low  probability  of  development.  In  the  worst  fami- 
lies, unfortunately,  the  bad  characters  are  the  strongest  ones, 
likely  to*  develop  even  under  the  best  conditions,  because  the 
better  faculties  are  in  low  intensity  —  mathematically  low  in 
power. 

Now^the  character  of  the  individual  in  his  own  personality 
will  depend  not  so  much  upon  his  total  inheritance  as  upon  the 
particular  characters  that  develop,  and  these  will  depend  very 
largely,  though  not  entirely,  upon  the  conditions  with  which  he 
is  surrounded,  especially  in  early  life. 

To  illustrate  :  Take  ten  ears  of  corn  that  look  exactly  alike. 
Plant  them  separately  in  rows,  side  by  side,  giving  to  each  the 
same  'soil  and  the  same  cultivation ;  that  is,  surround  them 
with  the  same  conditions  and  opportunities.  Will  they  yield 
alike  ^  Most  assuredly  not.  They  may  differ  as  much  as  50 
per  cent,  and  possibly  more.  Why  ?  They  were  bred  differ- 
ently ;  they  inherited  different  powers  of  germination  and  of 
vigor  in  obtaining  and  assimilating  the  plant  food  of  the  soil. 


174        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Take  a  Jersey  and  a  Shorthorn  calf.  Feed  both  all  they  will 
eat.  Will  the  Jersey  equal  the  Shorthorn  in  growth  and  in  flesh  ? 
No ;  though  he  will  be  larger  than  another  Jersey  that  has  not 
been  so  well  fed.  Feed  a  race  horse  liberally,  and  will  he  make 
a  draft  horse .?  No.  Starve  a  draft  horse,  and  will  he  make  a 
racer  ?  No.  Everything  will  make  what  it  was  born  to  make, 
or  as  near  it  as  conditions  permit.  It  is  the  function  of  the 
environment  to  provide  the  opportunity  and  the  materials  for 
development.  If  we  desire  the  development  of  a  particular 
character,  it  is  wise,  after  having  secured  it  in  the  transmission, 
to  provide  the  means  for  its  development.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  are  conscious  of  the  presence  of  an  undesirable  char- 
acter in  the  nature  of  the  animal  or  the  plant,  it  is  wise  to  with- 
hold and  prevent  as  far  as  lies  within  our  power  all  influences 
and  conditions  favorable  to  its  development,  and  thereby  make 
its  appearance  as  difficult  and  as  unlikely  as  possible,  hoping  that 
its  ugly  existence  will  remain  forever  dormant,  understanding 
well  that  the  longer  it  remains  undeveloped  and  unencouraged 
the  less  likely  is  it  to  come  to  the  surface.^ 

Environment  does  not  add  unit  characters.  Characters  do 
not  arise  out  of  their  environment.  They  were  there  before  or 
they  do  not  appear.  Jersey  cattle  cannot  be  turned  to  red  by 
keeping  them  in  a  red  barn,  nor  does  the  color  of  the  colt 
depend  upon  that  of  the  working  mate  of  the  mother. 

No  man  was  ever  made  a  thief  by  seeing  others  steal,  unless 
he  had  a  little  of  the  thief  in  him  before  by  inheritance.  We 
ourselves  are  not  yet  so  far  removed  from  savagery  but  that 
these  fundamental  barbarisms  still  beset  us  to  some  extent. 
The  savage  steals  and  kills  and  tortures,  and  our  race  is  not 
yet  free  from  some  slight  taint  of  these  elemental  characters. 

*  That  is  why  it  is  the  highest  duty  of  every  person  not  only  to  keep  Aim- 
selfszic,  but  also  to  keep  his  family  line  clean  of  undesirable  blood  lines  which, 
if  introduced,  will  crop  out  to  plague  generations  yet  unborn.  We  owe  all  this 
to  the  future.  Unfortunately  our  own  ancestors  have  not  all  lived  up  to  their 
duty  in  this  regard,  as  most  of  us  can  testify  by  our  own  evil  if  not  dangerous 
impulses,  mixed  here  and  there  with  the  best  that  is  in  us. 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT  175 

They  do  not  belong  with  civiHzation,  and  civilization  must  elimi- 
nate them  as  fast  as  possible,  first,  by  the  control  of  degenerates  ; 
and  second,  by  making  conditions  so  good  as  to  reduce  the 
development  of  these  uncivilized  characters  to  a  minimum. 

This  principle  is  well  understood  by  farmers  in  dealing  with 
animals  and  crops.  They  know  that  a  well-bred  animal  needs 
good  conditions,  good  feed,  good  shelter,  and  good  advantages 
generally.  They  know  that  good  varieties  need  good  soil  and 
favorable  climate. 

They  know,  too,  that  ill-bred  animals  will  not  respond  to  good 
feed  and  care,  and  that  poor  varieties  will  not  become  good  by 
raising  them  on  a  good  soil.  The  principle  is  universal,  that 
the  nature  of  the  race  is  fixed  by  its  breeding.  Its  personality 
may  be  helped  or  hindered,  but  cannot  be  created  by  its 
environment. 

Modifications  due  to  environment.  If  two  individuals  could 
be  born  alike,  but  grow  to  maturity  in  very  different  environ- 
ments, the  two  would  look  very  different.  These  differences 
are  the  modifications  due  to  environment  or  the  conditions 
and  opportunities  of  life. 

These  modifications,  we  have  seen,  are  due  to  the  fact  that 
any  given  environment  is  favorable  to  the  development  of 
certain  characters  and  unfavorable  to  others.  Thus  a  hot 
country  is  favorable  to  the  development  of  spiny  growth  and 
harshness  of  leaf,  but  unfavorable  to  the  growth  of  wool. 

Two  children  are  born  with  equal  talent  for  painting.  The 
one  lives  with  artists  all  his  life,  the  other  with  commercial 
people.  Manifestly,  the  one  will  most  likely  be  an  artist  and 
the  other  will  most  likely  learn  trade,  unless,  as  in  rare  cases, 
the  instinct  is  so  strong  as  to  be  overpowering. 

In  one  sense,  therefore,  all  living  matter  is  modified  by  and 
according  to  the  conditions  of  life,  but  in  another  sense  it  is 
not,  for  no  character  can  develop,  however  favorable  the  sur- 
roundings, unless  the  faculty  was  first  inherited  ;  that  is  to  say, 
the  environment  cannot  supply  lacking  unit  characters. 


176        DOMESTICATEI7  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Can  modifications  due  tp  environment  be  transmitted  ?  This 
is  the  old  and  much  debated  question  of  inheritance  of  acquired 
characters.  It  means  in  brief  this :  If  a  horse  is  spavined,  will 
the  spavin  be  transmitted  to  the  offspring  ?  If  a  man  is  a  great 
musical  performer,  will  his  child  be  a  better  musician  than  if  the 
parent  never  learned  music  ?  Also,  would  this  musician's  younger 
children  inherit  more  of  ^he  musical  faculty  than  would  the  older 
children,  born  before  the  highest  development  of  the  parent's 
powers  ? 

Will  the  calf  of  a  cow  that  has  made  a  phenomenal  record 
at  the  pail  be  itself  a  better  cow  than  would  the  same  calf  from 
the  same  cow  if  she  had  only  moderate  feed  and  care  ?  Will 
cutting  off  the  horns  of  cattle  tend  to  produce,  by  and  by,  a 
hornless  race  ? 

This  is  the  class  of:  questions  involved  at  this  point.  The 
matter  is  too  intricate  for  treatment  here,  except  to  say  that,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  author,  the  class  of  modifications  here  men- 
tioned are  not  transmitted ;  for  example,  we  have  been  cutting 
off  the  tails  of  lambs  for  many  generations,  but  sheep  are  not 
yet  born  without  tails.  Heredity  is  not  so  easily  influenced  as 
all  that,  because  the  germ  plasm  (the  sex  cell)  is  not  affected 
by  an  operation  like  dehorning  or  cutting  off  the  tail. 

There  is  doubtless  a  class  of  modifications  that  may  affect  the 
germ  plasm  and  therefore  be  transmitted.  I  refer  to  all-pervad- 
ing influences  like  temperature  and  alkalinity  for  lower  organ- 
isms, and  fpr  the  higher  animals  and  plants,  to  nutrition  and  to 
definite  chemical  compounds,  like  poisons  and  toxins  from  con- 
tagious and  infectious  diseases. 

The  student  who  desires  to  pursue  this  subject  at  length  is 
referred  to  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  pp.  221-345,  ^nd  collateral 
literature. 

Summary.  What  th,e  offspring  is  at  maturity  depends,  first  of  all,  upon 
the  possibilities  born  into  him  ;  and  second,  upon  the  opportunities  for  their 
development  afforded  by  the  environment.  Every  individual  inherits  all 
the  faculties  of  the  race,  both  good  and  bad,  yet  the  fact  remains  that 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT 


177 


some  of  these  faculties,  both  good  and  bad,  are  so  exceedingly  weak  as  to  be 
practically  wanting,  and  capable  of  development  only  in  the  most  persistently 
favorable  environment.  However  favorable  the  environment,  faculties  will 
not  develop  which  were  not  inherited  from  the  family  line,  any  more  than 
would  living  in  a  white  house  make  a  white  man  out  of  a  negro  child. 

References.    1.  "  Principles  of  Breeding." 

2.  "  Essays  on  Heredity  and  The  Germ  Plasm."    Separate  volumes  by 
Weismann  against  the  transmission  of  modification. 

3.  "  An  Examination  of  Weismannism  and  Post- Darwinian  Questions." 
Separate  volumes  by  Romanes,  favoring  transmission  of  modifications. 


CHAPTER  XV 
SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  ANIMALS 

Origin  of  the  "  pure  bred  "  •  Pedigree  registers  •  Advanced  registry  •  Unregis- 
tered stock  and  scrubs  •  Systems  of  breeding  •  Source  of  sires  •  Herd  im- 
provement and  breed  improvement  •  Rational  improvement  •  Choosing  the 
breed  •  Breed  differences  slight  •  Market  classes  and  grades  •  Knowledge  of 
market  requirements  needful 

Origin  of  the  **pure  bred.'*  As  the  different  species  of  ani- 
mals were  domesticated  they  were  naturally  kept  by  different 
races  of  men  and  under  a  great  variety  of  conditions.  These 
different  people  had  different  ideals  and  standards  of  selection, 
and  these,  together  with  the  various  natural  conditions  of  food 
and  climate,  all  helped  to  develop  not  one  but  many  different 
varieties  of  the  race  ;  cattle,  for  example,  and  similarly  for  dogs, 
horses,  sheep,  and  all  other  domesticated  species. 

Naturally  some  of  these  were  better  than  others,  and  their 
special  admirers  would  do  what  they  could  to  prevent  their  mix- 
ing with  other  and  inferior  strains,  that  is,  to  keep  them  pure. 
In  this  way  we  have  the  so-called  ''pure"  breeds,  numbering 
in  all  more  than  a  hundred  more  or  less  distinct  strains,  each 
with  its  own  type  and  standard  of  selection.^ 

England,  for  instance,  was  from  early  times  a  great  cattle 
country.  In  the  central  part,  about  Hertfordshire,  there  early 
developed  a  heavy  strain  known  as  Longhorns,  since  modified 
into  the  Herefords. 

In  the  northeast  another  superior  strain  developed  among 
the  excellent  stockmen  along  the  river  Tees  and  in  the  county 
of  Durham,  known  first  as  Teeswater  cattle,  afterward  as  Dur- 
hams,  and  finally  as  Shorthorns,  to  distinguish  them  from  the 

1  For  a  description  of  all  the  more  common  breeds  of  animals,  see  "  Types 
and  Breeds  of  Farm  Animals,"  by  Professor  Plumb. 

178 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  ANIMALS      179 

Longhorns  of  middle  England,  with  which  they  came  into  com- 
petition in  the  show  ring.  All  this  was  a  hundred  years  ago,  but 
the  two  strains  or  "breeds"  are  becoming  more,  rather  than  less, 
distinct  because  each  is  being  selected  to  its  own  type,  thus  still 
further  emphasizing  its  distinctive  characters.  No  good  stock- 
man would  now  think  of  mixing  them,  so  that  everything  keeps 
them  apart,  while  nothing  brings  them  together.  Under  con- 
ditions such  as  these  the  breeds  become  more  distinct  and  their 
characters  more  fixed  year  by  year. 

In  a  similar  way  southwest  England  developed  the  Devons ; 
southccfSt  England  the  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  now  known  as  the 
Red  Polled  ;  and  Scotland  developed  the  Ayrshire,  Galloway, 
and  Aberdeen  Angus, 

Horses,  sheep,  and  swine,  dogs,  cats,  and  even  pigeons, — in- 
deed, all  other  domesticated  animals,  —  have,  in  much  the  same 
way,  developed  a  variety  of  favorite  strains  which  in  time  come  to 
be  recognized  as  breeds,  and  the  individuals  of  such  distinct  strains 
are  spoken  of  as  ''  pure  breds."^  Thus  arose  the  so-called  pure 
breeds,  whose  purity  of  blood  is  seen  to  be  relative  rather  than 
absolute,  for  all  of  them  when  traced  far  enough  back  ''  run  into 
the  woods,"  that  is,  merge  into  the  common  stock  of  the  region 
out  of  which  they  arose  by  methods  here  but  briefly  outlined. 

Pedigree  registers.  It  is  manifest  that  the  early  breeders  ex- 
perienced much  difficulty  in  determining  purity  of  blood  and  in 
avoiding  the  use  of  individuals  of  mixed  or  impure  blood  lines, 
nor  is  it  difficult  to  understand  the  necessity  of  some  recognized 
record  as  the  ultimate  authority.  The  number  of  animals  that  any 
breeder  might  personally  know  to  be  pure  would  be  exceedingly 
limited.  Again,  the  purer  the  blood  the  more  the  animal  is  worth, 
other  things  equal ;  and  the  temptation  for  unprincipled  stockmen 
to  claim  purity  of  blood  for  mixed  animals  is  clearly  extreme. 

1  The  word  "  thoroughbred  "  is  sometimes  erroneously  used  to  designate 
such  animals.  This  term  is  the  breed  name  of  the  English  running  horse  and 
should  never  be  used  as  synonymous  with  pure  bred.  Thus  we  can  have  a 
pure-bred  cow,  but  a  thoroughbred  is  a  horse,  and  a  running  horse  at  that. 


l8o        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

For  all  these  reasons  the  establishment  of  a  record  in  which 
should  be  recorded  the  pedigree  of  all  animals  claiming  purity 
of  blood  became  an  early  necessity.  It  was  done  first  with  the 
Thoroughbred  at  the  time  of  the  early  English  races, ^  and 
followed  rapidly  afterward  with  cattle,  swine,  and  even  dogs. 

In  the  pedigree  register  the  animal's  name  is  recorded,  but 
he  is  known  and  officially  designated  by  his  serial  number, 
assigned  by  the  secretary  of  the  association.  The  pedigree  re- 
cords also  the  date  of  birth,  the  name  and  number  of  the  sire 
and  generally  of  the  dam,  together  with  the  name  of  the  owner 
and  sometimes  some  distinguishing  mark  that  may  be  used  for 
identification.  In  general,  the  pedigree  is  a  guarantee  not  only 
of  purity  of  blood  but  also,  in  a  general  way,  of  the  family  lines 
to  which  the  individual  belongs.  Identifying  any  particular 
individual  with  the  pedigree  is  a  matter  that  rests  solely  with 
the  breeder,  and  for  this  reason  the  value  of  the  pedigree  of  any 
animal  is  largely  dependent  upon  the  reliability  of  the  owner, 
because  he  may  falsify  the  report  if  he  desires  to  do  so. 

1  With  the  decline  of  chivalry  after  the  crusades  came  the  just,  or  tilt,  in 
which  first  real  and  afterward  nominal  knights  played  at  war.  Later  this  de- 
veloped into  the  fox  or  hare  hunt,  and  later  still  into  the  horse  race.  From  the 
first  the  horses  figured  largely,  especially  such  as  were  taken  from  the  Arabs 
at  the"  time  of  the  crusades.  As  the  tournament  descended  to  the  hunt  the 
relative  importance  of  the  horse  increased,  and  as  this  in  turn  merged  into  the 
race,  the  horse  was  of  far  more  consequence  than  the  rider.  So  a  boy  was 
substituted  for  the  owner,  and  thus  the  knight  of  the  tournament  became  the 
jockey  of  the  horse  race.  When  the  hunt  first  became  the  race,  the  fox  or  the 
hare  was  let  loose  in  a  circular  course,  well  fenced,  and  then  run  down  with 
riders  and  dogs ;  but  later  the  fox  and  the  fence  were  omitted  on  the  assump- 
tion that  the  horse  that  could  first  get  around  the  track  would  best  be  able  to 
run  down  the  fox,  were  the  game  a  real  hunt. 

All  this  time  the  sport  was  confined  to  the  gentry,  whose  horses  were  more 
or  less  directly  descended  from  Arabian  or  other  stock  brought  to  England 
during  or  immediately  after  the  crusades,  which  saw  the  practical  end  of  the 
age  of  chivalry.  As  the  sport  grew,  some  way  had  to  be  devised  to  keep  out 
the  mob,  and  the  rules  early  forbade  the  entry  of  any  horse  whose  breeding 
could  not  be  traced  along  certain  approved  lines.  This  led  naturally  to  written 
and  afterward  to  printed  records  of  pedigrees,  a  custom  that  began  naturally 
in  horse  racing  and  which  has  been  extended  to  all  breeding  as  being  the  most 
ready  means  of  identifying  blood  lines  and  of  establishing  authentic  records  of 
breeding. 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  ANIMALS      i8l 

Manifestly,  when  a  breeder  files  a  pedigree  with  the  request 
that  it  be  published  in  the  association  record,  the  secretary  is 
in  a  position  to  know  whether  the  sire  and  dam  mentioned  are 
really  owned  by  the  breeder  at  the  time  mentioned,  and  to  this 
extent  the  association  can  vouch  for  the  accuracy  of  the  pedigree ; 
but  nobody  but  the  breeder  can  testify  that  a  particular  individual 
is  the  one  covered  by  that  pedigree.  Here  is  where  the  honor  of 
the  breeder  is  involved,  and  it  is  a  great  tribute  to  modern  busi- 
ness methods  when  we  can  truthfully  say  that  it  is  rare  indeed 
for  a  breeder  to  falsify  a  breeding  record  or  to  substitute  an 
inferior  animal  for  the  one  mentioned  in  the  pedigree.^  Some 
errors  creep  in  through  carelessness  and  inaccurate  methods  of 
record  keeping,  no  doubt,  but  these  are  being  reduced  rapidly, 
and  no  class  of  men  rank  higher  than  breeders,  whether  judged 
by  standards  of  accuracy  or  those  of  business  honor. 

The  following  specimens  will  illustrate  about  what  is  covered 
in  the  ordinary  registered  pedigree. 

The  first  animal  ever  recorded  was  the  running  mare,  A-la- 
Grecque,  the  first  listed  in  the  General  Studbook,  published 
1808,  the  record  running  as  follows  : 

Bred  by  Mr.  Piatt  in  1763,  got  by  Regulus  —  her  dam  by  Allworthy  — 
granddam  by  the  Bolton  Starling  —  great-granddam,  Daisy  Maid,  by  Bloody 
Buttocks  —  great-great-granddam,  Bay  Brocklesby  by  Old  Pointer  —  great- 
great-great-granddam,  Brocklesby,  by  Greyhound,  out  of  Brocklesby  Betty. 

Year  Produce 

1772  ch.  c.  Pontac  by  Marske         ^ 

1773  f.  by  ditto  (dam  of  Tencer) 

1774  ch.  c.  by  Chatsworth  j^Sir  L.  Dundas 

1775  f.  by  ditto 
1777     ch.  c.  Arske  by  ditto 

1 780  b.  c.  Balloon  by  Telemachus  "1 

1 78 1  b.  f.  Emma  by  ditto  (dam  of  Applegarth)  I     .  , 

1783  b.  f.  Maria  by  ditto  (dam  of  Marianne)     1 

1 784  ch.  c.  Templar  by  Magnet  J 

1  There  are  those  who  insist  that  no  business  men  can  be  trusted,  but  the 
business  of  the  breeder  can  be  carried  on  in  no  other  way  than  upon  honor, 
and  all  associations  exclude  from  their  privileges  any  man  who  has  defrauded 
in  pedigrees. 


1 82        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

By  this  we  note  that  the  pedigree  runs  entirely  on  the  dam's 
side, —  indeed,  no  sires  were  at  first  recorded ;  that  her  first  off- 
spring was  a  chestnut  male^  and  dropped  in  1772  when  she  was 
nine  years  of  age,  and  that  she  raised  a  foal  every  year  afterward 
except  1776,  1778,  1779,  and  1782,  — nine  in  all.  Other  pedi- 
grees recorded  in  this  volume  trace  freely  to  Arabian  stock. 

The  next  pedigree  register  was  Coates's  Herdbook,  pub- 
lished in  1822  to  record  pedigrees  of  Shorthorn  cattle  or,  as 
they  were  called,  improved  Shorthorns,  as  bred  at  that  time 
largely  by  Mr.  Thomas  Bates  and  his  associates  in  middle 
England,  but  tracing  to  the  Teeswater  cattle  of  the  county  of 
Durham. 

This  register  recorded  both  bulls  and  cows,  arranged  alpha- 
betically by  name,  but  for  the  first  time  serial  numbers  were 
assigned,  though  only  to  the  males.  Thus  the  first  one  recorded 
(No.  i)  is  Abelard,  calved  in  181 2;  but  further  over  in  the 
volume  we  find  Comet  (155),  calved  in  1804,  and  the  famous 
Hubback,  calved  in  1777.  These  early  volumes  are  full  of 
attempts  to  verify  the  breeding  of  early  but  famous  animals 
then  long  dead,  as  were  in  many  cases  their  owners  as  well. 

So  many  Shorthorns  have  since  been  bred  that  the  numbers 
have  run  very  high.  Sixty-nine  large  volumes  are  filled  with  the 
pedigrees  of  American  Shorthorns  only,  the  latest  numbers 
running  above  273000. 

A  typical  Shorthorn  pedigree  would  now  be  recorded  as 
follows  : 

Palmer  270057. 

Red,  calved  March  3,  1906.  Bred  by  J.  E.  Gilbertson,  Utica,  Minn. ; 
owned  by  Lars  Somm,  Rushford,  Minn.;  got  by  Old  David  189406,  out  of 
Aurora  (Vol.  LI  1 1 ,  p.  7 1 1 )  by  5th  Favorite  of  Springbrook  1 4 1 6 1 7  —  tracing 
to  imp.  Daisy  by  Wild  1 1 1 34. 

All  this  means  that  this  record  gives  both  the  breeder  and 
the  owner,  and  affirms  that  the  sire  of  the  calf  was  Old  David 

1  "  c."  stands  for  colt,  which  is  male ;  "  f."  for  filly,  which  is  female ;  "  ch." 
stands  for  chestnut,  "  b."  for  bay,  "  bl."  for  black,  etc. 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  ANIMALS      183 

1 89406,  and  that  the  dam  was  Aurora,  who  is  recorded  in  Vol. 
LI  1 1  on  page  711  ;^  that  her  sire  was  5  th  Favorite  of  Spring- 
brook,  whose  recorded  number  is  14 16 17,  and  under  which 
we  would  find  his  full  pedigree ;  and  further  that  this  line  of 
breeding  traces  to  the  imported  cow  Daisy,  whose  sire  was 
Wild  1 1 134. 

Pedigrees  for  cows  run  the  same,  except  that  they  have  no 
numbers,  but  are  arranged  alphabetically  by  name  under  the 
breeders,  also  alphabetically  arranged.  This  deplorable  system 
makes  it  necessary  to  designate  females  by  the  number  of  the 
volume  and  the  page  on  which  their  pedigrees  appear.  Mani- 
festly, names  are  useless  for  purposes  of  designation  because 
so  many  are  duplicates. 

The  Hereford  system  is  much  better,  as  everything,  male  and 
female  alike,  is  recorded  by  number  in  serial  order,  —  a  plan 
that  is  being  more  and  more  generally  followed,  whether  the 
animals  recorded  are  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  or  swine. 

Advanced  registry.  It  is  readily  noted  that  the  ordinary  pedi- 
gree is  merely  a  guarantee  against  mixed  blood  lines ;  that  is, 
that  all  the  blood  of  the  individual  is  of  the  specified  breed  and 
no  other.  It  does  not,  however,  pretend  to  say  whether  or  not 
a  particular  individual  is  a  good  one.  It  may  be  the  best  of 
its  kind  or  the  poorest,  and  nothing  in  the  pedigree  would  make 
the  buyer  the  wiser.  On  this  point  he  is  dependent  upon 
examination  alone. 

The  advanced  registry,  however,  is  a  kind  of  second  registra- 
tion, based  upon  performance,  and  is  thus  a  guarantee  of  quality. 
Among  horses  it  is  based  upon  their  track  records,^  and  among 
dairy  cows  upon  the  amount  of  milk  or  butter  fat  made  within 
a  given  length  of  time,  according  to  an  officially  recognized  test. 

A  specimen  of  advanced  registry  taken  from  the  Holstein- 
Friesian  books  runs  as  follows  : 

1  In  the  Shorthorn  books  the  dams  still  have  no  numbers  and  must  be 
designated  in  this  awkward  way. 

2  See  the  Year-Book. 


1 84        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

No.  4044  Jolie  Johanna  Clothilde  De  Kol  72194 

Jolie  Johanna         r_     .^  ,     ,,    __      f  Mutual  Friend  3d's  Paul  148  A. R. 
/-I  .U-1J    T-.    T^  1     De  Kol  2d's  Mu-  \  -r.    -,.  ■,     ■,  a  i-,  ^     t 

Clothilde  De  Kol  ,_.     ,         .  „  ^  De  Kol  2d  412  A.R.O.    In  10  yr. 

.   u  ^     ,       tualPauli52A.R.  I  .  ^        zr    „    r 

4044  A.R.O.    In«j  ^  [11  mo.  3  da.  21,261  lb.  fat 

3  yr.  7  mo.  23  da.    Jolie  Johanna  Clothilde  J  Onyx  Clothilde  Pledge  23639 

1 1,508  lb.  fat         [^52356  \ Jolie  Onyx  43770 

Owned  by  W.  C.  Hunt,  Liverpool,  N.Y. ;  bred  by  George  F.  Carter, 
Syracuse,  N.Y.  Calved  April  1 1 ,  1 90 1 .  Official  butter  record  :  dropped  calf 
December  4,  1 904,  at  3  yr.  7  mo.  23  da.  of  age ;  commenced  record  January  1 7, 
1905  ;  closed  record  January  23 ;  7  days'  production,  1 1  lb.  5  oz.  butter  fat; 
milk,  345.5  lb.  Attested  by  L.  L.  Devereaux,  Cornell  University,  Agricul- 
tural Experiment  Station. 

The  need  of  this  kind  of  information  is  evident.  The  breeder, 
bent  upon  improvement,  desires  to  buy  and  to  keep  the  dest  of 
a  breed,  not  the  poorest  or  even  the  medium.  A  glance  at  the 
table  on  page  156  will  show  that  the  mass  will  always  be  mediocre, 
and  that  while  much  excellence  springs  from  mediocrity,  it  is 
relatively  infrequent,  so  that  if  a  man  desires  to  breed  excep- 
tional animals,  he  will  get  a  larger  proportion  of  such  if  he 
breeds  from  exceptional  parents. 

Here  is  where  the  problems  of  the  breeder  differ  from  those 
of  political  science.  A  glance  at  the  table  cited  will  show  that 
a  hereditary  monarchy  is  certain  to  run,  not  occasionally  but 
frequently,  into  mediocrity  for  its  ruler.  Let  stature  stand  a 
moment  for  genius  or  statesmanship.  Then  a  ruler  represented 
by  70.5  inches  in  the  table  is  certainly  well  above  the  medium, 
but  his  son  may  be  anything  from  above  73.2  and  better  than 
the  father  down  to  below  62.2,  the  minimum  of  the  race. 

Republics,  on  the  other  hand,  elect  their  rulers,  that  is,  select 
them  after  birth  and  maturity,  and  have  a  chance  to  choose 
individuals  above  the  mediocre,  with  no  reference  either  to 
ancestry  or  descent,  as  the  son  is  in  nowise  involved.  This 
is  why  republics  can  have  better  average  rulers.  Though  they 
are  likely  not  to  rise  to  the  supreme  height  of  some  hereditary 
monarchs,  they  will  never  sink  to  the  depths  of  others,  and 
upon  the  whole  they  are  safer. 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  ANIMALS      185 

The  breeder,  on  the  other  hand,  is  concerned  with  the  offspring, 
and  he  will  stake  his  fortunes  with  the  best  bred  ancestors,  not 
because  all  their  descendants  will  be  equally  good,  but  because 
the  proportion  will  be  higher.^ 

Unregistered  stock  and  scrubs.  Unregistered  animals  are  of 
two  kinds  :  first,  those  that  cannot  be  recorded  because  their 


Fig.  27.    Inferior  feeder,  ^4.75  per  hundredweight  {1910) ;  usual  price, 
$2.75  per  hundredweight 

From  "  Beef  Production,"  by  Mumford 

ancestry  is  exceedingly  mixed,  —  known  as  scrubs  ;  and,  second, 
those  that  are  really  pure  in  their  blood  lines  but  that  cannot  be 
recorded  because  the  records  are  lost,  or,  for  other  reasons,  their 
particular  ancestry  is  not  fully  known.  These  are  called  simply 
unregistered. 

1  A  glance  at  the  table  in  question  will  show  that  while  tall  people  spring 
both  from  tall  and  from  mediocre  parents,  the  greatest  proportion  is  from  the 
tall  parents ;  thus  4  -=-  19  >  5  -^  183  (see  rows  e  and/ of  the  table). 


1 86        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

The  first  class  is,  on  the  average,  decidedly  inferior  because 
only  partly  improved,  and  though  high-class  individuals  occasion- 
ally occur,  even  they  are  next  to  worthless  for  breeding  purposes, 
because,  under  the  law  of  ancestral  heredity,  the  influences  are 
so  diverse  that  regressions  and  reversions  will  be  common,  even 
inevitable.  The  second  class,  on  the  other  hand,  may  be  virtu- 
ally and  even  actually  high-class,  pure-bred  animals,  whose 
records  may  have  been  lost  by  fire  or  other  accident,  or  are 
othen\dse  untraceable.  Such  animals  may  be  every  whit  as  use- 
ful for  everyday  purposes  as  are  registered  stock,  but  the 
impossibility  of  knowing  or  stating  their  blood  lines  of  course 
destroys  their  sale  value  as  breeders. 

Now  and  always  the  great  mass  of  our  farm  stock  will  be 
unrecorded  animals.  The  business  of  the  improver  is  to  raise 
the  quality  of  this  stock  to  the  nearest  possible  approach  to  the 
best  recorded  blood.  This  is  the  best  we  can  hope  to  do,  for 
there  will  always  be  a  fezv  best  animals,  and  these  are  really 
the  only  ones  worth  recording.  It  adds  nothing  to  the  value 
of  an  inferior  pure-blooded  animal  to  record  it,  —  indeed,  it  is 
better  that  such  animals  be  not  recorded,  —  and  one  of  the 
first  steps  in  practical  improvement  is  to  get  rid  of  the  pedi- 
gree scrub,  meaning  by  that,  those  animals  of  good  breeding 
which  are  themselves  worthless. 

We  have,  then,  two  great  classes  of  animals  :  first,  those  whose 
ancestry  is  known  and  recorded  ;  and  second,  those  whose  an- 
cestry is  not  known.  Manifestly,  most  of  the  best  animals  and 
all  of  those  valuable  for  securing  additional  improvement  are 
in  the  first  class. 

Systems  of  breeding.  With  these  facts  before  us  we  are  ready 
to  discuss  the  relative  merits  of  different  systems  of  breeding, 
which  may  be  briefly  outlined  as  follows  : 

I.  Mixed  breeding,  in  which  no  attention  whatever  is  paid 
to  ancestry.  It  has  the  merit  of  cheapness  and  the  disadvantage 
that  no  further  improvement  need  be  expected.  If  any  syste- 
matic attempts  should  be  made  toward  selecting  to  a  constant 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  ANIMALS      187 

Standard,  then  it  would  be  at  once  necessary  to  keep  records, 
and  the  animals  so  handled  would  be  no  longer  mixed  bred  but 
would  be  on  their  way  to  becoming  a  new  strain  of  pure  breds. 
•  2.  Pure  breeding,  in  which  only  registered  animals  are  used. 
This  system  has  the  advantage  of  securing  the  best  results,  but 


Choice  feeding  steer,  $6.25  per  hundredweight  (1910) ;  usual 
price,  $4.50  per  hundredweight 

From  "  Beef  Production,"  by  Mumford 

it  is  relatively  costly,  especially  with  horses  and  cattle,  but  less 
so  with  the  smaller  and  cheaper  animals. 

3.  Grading,  in  which  the  sire  is  pure  bred,  but  the  dam  is 
not.  This  system  combines  the  advantages  of  both  preceding 
methods.  It  is  but  little  more  costly  than  the  first,  and  is,  for 
practical  purposes,  almost  as  effective  as  the  second. 

4.  Crossing,  in  which  the  sire  is  of  one  breed  or  set  of  blood 
lines,  as  Shorthorn,  and  the  dam  of  another,  as  Jersey.  This 
method  combines  the  disadvantages  of  both  the  first  and  second 
methods  in  that  it  is  as  costly  as  pure  breeding  and  in  the  end 


1 88        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

not  more  effective  than  mixed  breeding,  which  in  truth  it  really 
is,  unless  the  object  be  the  formation  of  a  new  breed,  which  is  a 
long  and  tedious  task,  but  entirely  feasible  in  theory,  as  we 
have  seen. 

Some  additional  points  may  well  be  noted  upon  these  four 
systems  of  breeding.  The  first,  or  mixed  breeding,  has  nothing 
to  commend  it  to  the  progressive  farmer.  It  is  and  always  will 
be  the  method  of  the  shortsighted  stockman,  who  does  not  look 
ahead,  and  who  sees  nothing  beyond  immediate  results,  but  who 
feels  obliged  and  perhaps  is  obliged  to  be  economical. 

Pure  breeding  requires  relatively  large  numbers,  in  order  to 
afford  material  for  selection.  With  the  larger  animals  this  means 
large  capital,  putting  this  method  of  breeding  out  of  the  reach 
of  the  average  stockman.  With  the  smaller  animals,  especially 
the  prolific  pigs  and  poultry,  every  man  should  breed  only  pure- 
bred animals.  Whether  he  goes  to  the  trouble  of  getting  them 
recorded  will  depend  upon  whether  he  desires  to  sell  to  other 
breeders  or  only  to  raise  for  the  open  market. 

With  the  larger  and  more  expensive  animals,  grading  is  the 
form  of  improvement  to  be  recommended  for  universal  practice. 
Here  the  farmer  uses  the  females  already  on  hand  and  buys  only 
the  sire,  which  is  the  only  recorded  animal  needed  in  this  form 
of  improvement. 

This  sire  is  half  parent  to  every  young  thing  born,  so  the  first 
crop  of  young  will  be  half  bloods ;  that  is,  they  will  have  half 
the  advantage  of  pure  breeding  by  the  use  of  a  single  animal, 
while  to  give  the  offspring  the  other  half  would  require  the 
purchase  not  of  a  single  animal  but  of  as  many  as  there  are 
females  in  the  herd,  one  dam  for  each  offspring. 

Suppose,  for  example,  a  farmer  has  thirty  common  cows.  How 
will  the  expense  run  in  the  two  methods  of  breeding.?  If  he  is  to 
breed  pure,  he  must  sell  these  cows  and  with  the  proceeds  buy 
pedigreed  animals.  It  will  take  at  least  three  common  cows  to 
buy  one  registered  cow  that  is  equally  good  as  a  performer,  and 
if  the  pedigree  "  runs  in  the  purple,"  it  will  take  many  more. 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  ANIMALS      189 

On  this  basis,  however,  the  two  plans  would  compare  about 
as  follows  : 

By  grading,  the  farmer  would  have  a  crop  of  thirty  half-blood 
calves.  By  pure  breeding,  his  cows  being  reduced  to  one  third, 
the  number  he  could  have  would  be  but  ten ;  that  is  to  say,  he 
has  more  "  blood  "  and  therefore  more  improvement  in  his  thirty 
half  bloods  than  in  his  ten  full  bloods,  as  well  as  more  animals 


Fig.  29.    Choice  (butcher)  cow,  $6.40  per  hundredweight 
Mumford,  in  Bulletin  78,  Experiment  Station,  University  of  Illinois 

to  stock  his  farm  and  to  afford  material  for  selection.    On  the 
sire's  side  the  expense  has  been  the  same. 

As  between  grading  and  mixed  or  unimproved  breeding,  the 
advantage  is  clearly  with  the  former.  The  females  are  the  same 
in  both  cases.  The  cost  of  feed  for  the  sire  is  the  same,  and 
the  only  difference  is  in  his  original  cost.  A  sire  suitable  for 
grading  purposes  can  be  had  for  a  hundred  dollars,  which  would 
be  but  $3.33  extra  for  each  calf,  to  entirely  pay  for  the  bull 
with  the  first  crop  of  calves.   But  he  will  raise  successive  crops, 


190 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


and  the  scrub  costs  something,  so  that  the  increased  cost  of 
giving  a  calf  half  the  advantage  of  pure  breeding  cannot  be  over 
a  dollar  apiece  in  a  herd  of  this  size.  Moreover,  this  dollar  is 
not  on  the  calf  but  rather  on  the  mature  animal.^ 

Any  way  it  is  estimated,  the  great  fact  is,  that  by  the  system 
of  grading,  a  single  parent  will  give  to  every  one  of  the  young  of 
the  herd  half  the  advantage  of  pnre  breeding  in  the  first  genera- 
tion. When,  however,  these  half  bloods  reach  breeding  age, 
their  offspring  from  a  pure-bred  sire  will  be  not  half  bloods  but 
three-quarter  bloods,  and  their  offspring  will  be  seven  eighths, 
and  so  on  indefinitely,  according  to  the  following  table  : 

Rate  of  Improvement  by  the  System  of  Grading 


Generation 

Sire 

Dam 

Offspring 

Per  cent 
improvement 

I 

Pure 

Scrub 

\  blood 

50- 

2 

Pure 

\  blood 

1  blood 

75- 

3 

Pure 

f  blood 

\  blood 

87.5 

4 

Pure 

1  blood 

If  blood 

9375 

5 

Pure 

II  blood 

l\  blood 

96.875 

By  this  we  see  that  after  five  generations  of  grading  the 
offspring  have  attained  thirty-one  thirty-seconds,  or  nearly 
97  per  cent,  of  the  improvement  that  is  possible  by  the  use 
of  pure  blood,  and  all  by  the  use  of  a  single  animal  only  at 
any  given  time.  By  this  we  see,  too,  that  the  sire  alone  can 
in  time  accomplish  practically  as  much  improvement  as  sire 
and  dam  could  both  accomplish  at  once,  and  all  at  an  expense 
vastly  less. 

Too  much  cannot  be  said  in  favor  of  improvement  by  grad- 
ing. It  is  safe,  cheap,  and  sure,  and,  moreover,  it  does  not  dis- 
turb the  affairs  of  the  farmer.  It  means  only  the  initial  cost  of 
a  well-bred  sire,  and  after  that  the  improvement  of  the  herd  will 
take  care  of  itself  ;  whereas,  with  scrub  parents  on  both  sides,  no 

1  Of  course,  if  the  herd  is  being  used  for  dairy  purposes,  only  half  the  calves 
would  be  utilized,  which  would  double  the  cost. 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  ANIMALS      191 

improvement  is  possible  except  by  an  outlay  of  labor  and  expense 
beyond  that  even  of  pure  breeding,  and  at  a  cost  of  time  far 
beyond  that  of  grading. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  why  farmers  do  not  more  generally 
avail  themselves  of  this  perfectly  rational  and  exceedingly  eco- 
nomical means  of  improvement,  and  see  in  their  yards  at  once 
crops  of  uniform  young  instead  of  the  motley  lot  that  disgrace 


Fig.  30.    Medium  (butcher)  cow,  $4.75  per  hundredweight 
After  Mumford 

most  of  our  barnyards.  Their  failure  to  do  this  is  due  to  noth- 
ing but  their  failure  to  look  ahead,  to  figure  out  the  final  out- 
come, and  to  look  facts  squarely  in  the  face. 

The  young  people  who  read  these  pages  can  do  a  lasting 
service  by  using  their  influence  in  every  way  possible  to  hasten 
the  use  of  better  sires.  All  old  countries  have  learned  the  lesson 
long  ago.  We  need  to  learn  it  at  once.  Let  the  young  people 
start  it  and  begin  now. 


192         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Source  of  sires.  Suitable  sires  can  be  had  of  any  of  the  rep- 
utable breeders  that  advertise  in  our  best  journals,  and  at  fair 
prices.  They  will  cost  more  than  they  are  worth  for  veal,  of 
course,  but  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  buyer  is  paying 
not  so  much  for  the  animal  as  for  the  long  line  of  breeding  that 
he  represents.  Consult  again  the  law  of  ancestral  heredity  in 
Chapter  XII  and  understand  fully  why  it  is  that  a  well-bred 


Fig.  31.    Common  rough  (butcher)  steer,  $5.80  per  hundredweight  (1910) 
usual  price,  $4.25  per  hundredweight 


After  Mumford 


male,  if  only  a  few  weeks  old,  is  worth  many  times  his  ordinary 
market  value  and  infinitely  more  than  any  scrub,  no  matter  what 
his  size,  color,  or  other  quality,  which,  like  beauty,  is  in  his  case 
only  "  skin  deep," 

Herd  improvement  and  breed  improvement.  Farmers  are  far 
more  apt  to  practice  crossing  than  grading,  though  it  is  vastly 
more  expensive,  and,  as  commonly  practiced,  leads  to  nothing,  for 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  ANIMALS      193 

reasons  well  understood  by  the  student.  I  attribute  this  failure 
to  our  universal  desire  to  experiment  in  something  striking. 

If  crossing  has  any  value,  it  is  not  to  improve  the  herd  of  a 
farmer,  but  to  afford  material  for  improving  the  breed  as  a  whole, 
and  even  this  is  a  long,  tedious,  and  expensive  undertaking 
because  of  the  operation  of  Mendel's  law.  Farmers  who  have 
tried  it  will  say  that  crossing  produces  some  good  animals,  but 
they  are  worthless  as  breeders.  This  is  because  of  the  principle 
just  mentioned  and  the  erratic  behavior  of  characters  dominant 
and  recessive,  as  explained  in  Chapter  XI. 

The  practical  farrner  should  have  clearly  in  mind  what  he 
desires  to  do.  If  he  very  much  wants  to  improve  the  breed  as 
a  whole,  then  well  and  good.  All  breeds  need  it,  but  he  may 
as  well  understand  that  he  has  undertaken  a  Herculean  task 
that  will  take  much  time  and  no  little  money. 

Most  men  are  rightly  after  herd  improvenie^tt  merely ;  that 
is,  to  bring  into  their  own  herds  the  most  they  can  afford  of 
the  best  that  has  already  been  accomplished  in  improvement. 
Now  the  least  that  such  a  man  can  afford  to  do  is  to  buy  a  sire 
of  the  desired  breed  and  begin  at  once  to  improve  his  own  herd. 
Then  later  he  can  improve  the  breed,  if  he  is  able. 

Rational  improvement.  The  rational  procedure  for  the  man 
who  would  improve  his  live  stock  is  to  secure  a  well-bred  young 
male  of  the  breed  he  prefers  and  "  grade  up,"  beginning  with 
the  females  he  has  on  hand,  or  such  other  common  stock  as  can 
be  bought  on  reasonable  terms.  Let  him  then  raise  several 
generations  of  grades,  and  later,  if  inclination  offer  and  money 
permit,  he  can  put  in  a  few  pure-bred  females  with  his  high 
grades  and  begin  the  production  of  a  pure-bred  herd  ;  or  he 
may  go  on  with  high  grades  indefinitely,  well  knowing  that/<?r 
market  purposes  the  high  grade  is  as  good  as  the  full  blood. 

Starting  in  this  way  he  will  have  several  substantial  advan- 
tages, which  may  be  enumerated  as  follows  :  ( i )  he  will  start 
cheaply  ;  (2)  he  will  produce  relatively  large  numbers,  making 
rigid  selection  possible ;   (3)  he  will  discover  the  special  breed 


194        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

characters  quickly,  as  they  will  stand  boldly  out  at  once  in  the 
grade  stuff;  (4)  he  will  gain  much  valuable  experience  with 
the  breed  in  case  he  afterward  desires  to  breed  it  pure. 

Choosing  the  breed.  No  question  is  more  common  than  this  : 
What  is  the  best  breed  ?  The  only  answer  is  that  there  is  no 
best  breed.   Of  course,  one  should  not  choose  Percheron  horses 


Fig.  32.    Prime  steer,  $8.70  per  hundredweight  (1910) 
After  Mumford 

for  carriage  purposes  nor  Jersey  cattle  for  beef.  Thus,  in  a 
general  way,  the  farmer  should  be  informed  about  the  breeds 
before  he  begins.  This  is  not  the  time  nor  the  place  to  dis- 
cuss this  question  at  length,  but  he  can  get  this  information 
from  such  books  as  Professor  Plumb's,^  and  he  cannot  afford 
to  decide  so  important  a  question  as  choosing  a  breed  without 
giving  some  time  to  its  study,  because  it  is  expensive  both  in 
time  and  money  to  make  a  change. 

1  "  Types  and  Breeds  of  Farm  Animals." 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  ANIMALS      195 

Above  all,  he  should  not  choose  it  suddenly  or  impulsively, 
as  do  some,  when  overimpressed  with  a  particularly  striking  dis- 
play at  the  fair.  The  matter  of  the  breed  should  be  seriously 
studied,  for  once  chosen  it  should  not,  under  any  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, be  changed  for  another.  To  do  that  is  to  so  mix 
the  breeds  together  as  to  make  a  jumble  which  is  next  to 
worthless  for  practical  purposes,  giving  rise  as  it  does  to  all 
sorts  of  troublesome  and  unexpected  reversions,  for  Mendel's 
law  is  always  operative  in  such  cases. 

Breed  differences  slight.  As  between  the  different  breeds 
that  are  bred  for  the  same  purpose,  the  practical  differences 
are  slight  and  well  within  the  personal  factor  of  choice.  For 
example,  the  four  great  beef  breeds  —  Shorthorn,  Hereford, 
Angus,  and  Galloway  —  were  developed  in  as  many  different 
localities,  and  all  in  the  hands  of  excellent  stockmen.  As 
with  adherence  to  a  political  party  or  to  a  particular  religious 
faith,  an  individual  generally  prefers  the  one  with  which  he 
was  brought  up. 

Many  a  man  says,  "  I  will  not  have  horns."  Then  his  choice 
is  limited  to  Galloway  and  Angus.  But  he  says,  ''  I  don't  like 
black  cattle."  Very  well ;  then  he  will  have  to  get  the  Polled 
Durham.  Then  he  may  say,  ''  I  don't  like  roans."  Then  noth- 
ing is  left  for  him  but  to  make  a  breed  of  his  own,  with  the 
probability  that  he  will  be  dead  and  forgotten  long  before  the 
feat  is  accomplished,  for  we  cannot  quickly  build  a  breed  to 
specification,  as  we  can  a  house. 

After  the  breed  is  chosen  the  breeder  should  become  familiar 
with  its  ''  points  "  and  also  with  the  market  requirements  of  the 
animals  he  proposes  to  produce. 

To  facilitate  this  study  by  the  young  I  have  added  an  Appen- 
dix, which  gives  sample  scales  of  points  both  for  pure-bred  and 
for  market  animals.  It  is  impossible  to  cover  all  breeds  in  a 
book  of  this  size,  but  enough  is  given  to  afford  exercise  in  stock 
judging,  which  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  accomplishments  of 
the  farmer. 


196 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


It  will  be  seen  upon  careful  study  that  some  of  these  points 
are  based  upon  utility,  while  others  aim  at  mere  looks,  often 
covering  points  that,  from  the  standpoint  of  utility,  are  trifling. 
Now  we  keep  cows,  for  example,  for  milk  and  butter,  and  those 
that  can  make  the  most  for  a  given  amount  of  feed  are  the 
best  cows,  quite  independent  of  the  length  of  the  tail  or  the 
color  of  the  tongue.     Meat  animals  generally  are  valuable  in 


Fig.  33.    Prime  baby  beef,  $8.00  per  hundredweight  (1910) 
After  Mumford 

proportion  to  the  amount  and  quality  of  the  meat  they  can 
make,  and  horses  for  their  service  at  labor  or  upon  the  road. 
In  pure  breeding  a  great  variety  of  minor  matters  are  bound 
to  enter  in,  and  this  fact  constitutes  one  of  its  difficulties,  but 
practical  improvement  of  the  mass  of  farm  animals  should 
proceed  upon  utility  standards. 

Market  classes  and  grades.     For  animals  that  are  shipped 
largely  to  the  open  market,  like  beef  cattle,  sheep,  pigs,  and 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  ANIMALS      197 

even  horses,  definite  classes  and  grades  ^  have  long  since  been 
established.  There  are  now  no  less  than  seven  classes  and 
forty-eight  grades  of  market  cattle,  eight  classes  and  twenty- 
seven  grades  of  swine,  eleven  classes  and  twenty-one  subclasses 
of  horses,  and  seven  classes  and  forty  grades  of  sheep,  a  few 
of  which  are  shown  in  illustrations  accompanying  this  chapter 
(Figs.  27-33).  The  value  of  these  different  grades  varies  of 
course  at  different  times,  but  relatively  the  upper  grades  are 
out  of  all  proportion  with  the  lower.  A  careful  study  of  these 
relative  values  will  convince  the  student  of  what  can  be  done 
by  breeding. 

Knowledge  of  market  requirements  needful.  It  is  important 
that  the  stockman  have  pretty  definite  knowledge  of  market 
requirements,  because  they  are  the  standard  by  which  his  ani- 
mals must  be  sold  and  by  which  he  will  be  paid.  Want  of  this 
information  is  the  cause  of  thousands  of  "  unclassed  "  2  animals 
upon  the  market.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark  that  such 
animals  make  the  owners  little  or  no  money.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  owner  knows  in  advance  what  the  market  will  demand, 
he  can  shape  his  ideals  and  selections  accordingly  and  thereby 
produce  what  the  buyer  really  wants.  Here  is  where  accurate 
knowledge  and  intelligence  are  necessary  to  the  best  success 
in  the  live-stock  business. 

Exercise.  Make  a  careful  study  of  Chapter  XVII,  Part  II,  and  get 
practice  in  stock  judging,  as  outlined  in  the  Appendix. 

Reference.  The  Breeders'  Gazette,  which  ought  to  be  regularly  taken 
by  the  school. 

1  For  market  classes  and  grades  of  cattle  see  Bulletin  y8,  Experiment 
Station,  University  of  Illinois;  for  those  of  swine,  see  Bulletin  gy ;  for  horses, 
see  Bulletin  122;  and  for  sheep,  Bulletin  i2g.  Professor  Mumford,  head  of 
the  department  of  Animal  Husbandry,  began  this  important  series  of  publica- 
tions with  the  bulletin  on  cattle,  which  was  followed  by  the  others  mentioned, 
prepared  respectively  by  his  associates.  Professor  Dietrich,  Mr.  Obrecht,  and 
Mr.  Coffey.  In  all  cases  the  material  was  prepared  in  the  stockyards,  then 
submitted  to  the  best  experts,  and  may  be  considered  as  authentic. 

2  An  unclassed  animal  is  one  that  does  not  fall  into  any  of  the  recognized 
desirable  classes.  Such  animals  make  their  way  into  the  lower  grades,  and, 
as  the  supply  always  exceeds  the  demand,  go  for  an  extremely  low  price. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  PLANTS 

Improvement  by  selection  •  Crossing  to  produce  new  varieties  •  Application 

of  Mendel's  law  in  crossing  •  Separation  of  the  desired  character  •  Behavior 

of  the  recessive  •  Behavior  of  the  dominant  •  When  more  than  two  characters 

are  involved  •  Systems  of  planting  •  Records 

The  whole  question  of  practical  methods  of  plant  improve- 
ment rests  on  an  entirely  different  basis  than  that  of  animals. 
The  evolutionary  principles  involved  are  identical,  but  the  eco- 
nomic conditions  are  different,  indeed  almost  opposite. 

Animals  are  relatively  few  in  number  and  costly  both  in  breed- 
ing and  in  maintenance.  Plants,  on  the  other  hand,  are  cheap, 
and  the  numbers  may  easily  run  into  the  thousands,  all  of  which 
warrants  methods  in  plant  improvement  that  would  be  entirely 
impracticable  with  animals. 

Improvement  by  selection.  Plants,  like  animals,  are  subject 
to  improvement  by  the  ordinary  methods  of  selection  ;  indeed, 
much  improvement  is  effected  in  that  way.  Farmers  keep  up 
the  quality  of  corn  by  selecting  for  seed  the  occasional  superior 
ear.  The  best  wheat  is  chosen  for  seed  and  carefully  screened 
of  inferior  kernels.  In  this  general  way  we  are  constantly 
practicing  selection. 

A  new  method  of  increasing  yield  of  corn  consists  in  planting 
selected  ears,  each  in  separate  rows,  carefully  harvesting  each 
row  separately.  Though  the  ears  may  have  looked  identical,  the 
crop  will  vary  greatly.  That  from  some  ears  will  be  nearly  uniform 
as  to  size  and  character  of  ear,  while  that  from  others  will  be 
exceedingly  uneven,  with  many  nubbins  and  inferior  ears.  The 
yield,  too,  will  vary  greatly,  often  running  more  than  two  to  one 
in  favor  of  certain  ears,  though  they  bore  no  visible  indication 

198 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  PLANTS        199 

of  inherently  superior  powers.  This  experiment  is  so  easily 
repeated  that  it  is  recommended  for  the  student,  and  further 
data  are  hardly  necessary  in  the  text  (see  table,  p.  204). 

This  method  is  akin  to  that  employed  for  the  increase  of  sugar 
in  the  sugar  beet.  When  the  Germans  commenced  the  improve- 
ment of  this  crop,  the  sugar  content  was  low,  running  from  4  to 
6  per  cent,  while  now  whole  fields  run  1 5  per  cent  and  occasional 
single  beets  are  found  as  high  as  25  per  cent.  This  improve- 
ment has  been  effected  in  the  following  way. 

Many  promising  beets  are  analyzed  for  sugar  content  and 
only  the  highest  are  selected  for  planting.  The  same  process 
is  repeated  for  two  or  three  generations,  the  best  individuals 
always  being  selected  as  "  mother  beets."  The  seed  from  the 
last  selection  is  ''  multiplied  "  in  the  open  field  by  planting  with- 
out selection,  simply  to  secure  commercial  quantities.  Thus 
the  commercial  seed,  while  not  immediately  descended  from 
selected  beets,  is  but  one  or  two  generations  removed  from  a 
highly  selected  parentage. 

Crossing  to  produce  new  varieties.  By  the  methods  above 
mentioned  any  strain  or  variety  may  be  greatly  improved,  but 
by  the  method  of  crossing  we  may  bring  together  absolutely  new 
combinations  of  characters  and  thereby  produce  new  varieties, 
some  of  which  are  certain  to  be  more  useful  than  the  old. 

The  reasons  which  practically  rule  out  crossing  as  a  means 
of  improvement  in  animals,  except  in  rarest  cases,  do  not  apply 
with  much  force  to  plants,  because  we  can  produce  them  in  such 
enormous  numbers  and  they  are  relatively  so  cheap  that  we  can 
afford  to  throw  away  the  most  of  them  for  the  sake  of  getting 
the  few  or  even  the  one  that  is  useful. 

Application  of  MendePs  law  in  crossing.  The  confusing  ele- 
ment in  crossing  is  the  behavior  of  dominant  and  recessive 
characters  when  suddenly  brought  together  in  new  combinations. 
Reference  to  the  chapter  on  Mendel's  law  will  refresh  the  point 
that  characters  combine  in  definite  proportions,  but  that  some 
are  much  more  apparent  than  others  which  are  easily  obscured, 


200        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

and  which  therefore  may  go  on  hidden  for  a  time,  only  to  sud- 
denly appear  when  the  overshadowing  dominant,  for  any  reason, 
is  absent. 

Separation  of  the  desired  character.  The  separation  of  the 
desired  character  from  its  entanglements  with  others  is  some- 
times easily  effected,  but  more  often  with  great  difficulty,  espe- 
cially when  dominant  undesirable  characters  are  involved.  As 
an  example  of  easy  separation  take  the  following  theoretical 
case  :  Suppose  we  cross  the  colors  black  and  white.  Under 
Mendel's  law  we  shall  have  offspring  of  the  cross  as  follows  : 
U^-^-  2  bw  -^  w^,  in  which  b'^  is  pure  black,  w^  pure  white,  and 
2  bw  is  mixed,  black  and  white.  In  this  particular  case,  there- 
fore, we  shall  find  the  offspring  of  three  distinct  colors,  all  of 
which  are  easily  separable,  one  from  the  other. 

In  the  vast  majority  of  cases,  however,  the  characters  do  not 
blend  in  this  way,  so  that  the  middle  term  does  not  stand  out 
distinctly  by  itself.  One  of  the  characters  generally  overshadows, 
that  is  to  say,  is  dominant  over,  the  other,  making  it  difficult,  if 
not  impossible,  to  separate. by  inspection  the  members  of  the 
middle  term  from  the  pure  dominants ;  that  is,  to  determine 
from  a  mixed -population  of  offspring,  arising  from  a  crossed 
parentage,  which  ones  are  pure  dominants  and  which  are 
mixed,  dominant,  and  recessive. 

Behavior  of  the  recessive.  It  will  be  remembered  that  reces- 
sive characters  appear  unassociated  with  the  dominant  in 
one  fourth  of  all  crossbred  individuals,  after  the  formula 
Z>2  -I-  2  Dr  +  r^,  in  which  D  stands  for  dominant  and  r  for 
recessive.  For  this  reason  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  proceed 
when  the  character  desired  is  recessive,  because  these  individ- 
uals that  seem  to  be  recessive  are  really  what  they  seem,  pure 
recessive,  and  will  breed  pure. 

Behavior  of  the  dominant.  It  is  not  so  easy,  however,  with 
the  dominant,  when  that  happens  to  be  the  character  in  whose 
improvement  we  are  interested.  Because  it  is  dominant  it  will 
appear  not  in  one  fourth  but  in  three  fourths  of  the  Offspring ; 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  PLANTS       20 1 

that  is,  we  are  unable  to  discriminate  between  the  pure  D^  and 
the  2  Dr  with  its  unnoticeable  recessive,  r.  How,  now,  shall 
these  be  separated  ? 

It  is  a  long  and  difficult  process.  The  only  procedure  is  to 
plant  the  seeds,  separately  if  possible.  Those  that  are  pure 
dominants  will  of  course  produce  only  dominants,  while  those 
that  are  mixed  will  produce  both  kinds  ;  that  is,  among  these 
no  recessive  will  appear.  In  self-fertilizing  species  we  can 
quickly  separate  the  pure  dominant  strains,  but  when  it  is  neces- 
sary to  resort  to  cross  fertilization,  either  natural  or  artificial,  it 
is  evident  that  the  work  is  still  more  difficult.  Under  such  circum- 
stances the  only  way  is  to  proceed  at  random  until  a  strain 
appears  that  produces  no  recessives,  when  it  may  be  confidently 
assumed  that  the  parents  were  both  pure  dominants  and  that 
the  separation  has  been  effected. 

When  more  than  two  characters  are  involved.  It  is  sufficiently 
difficult  to  separate  two  characters,  one  of  which  is  dominant. 
Manifestly,  it  is  still  more  difficult  to  effect  separations  when 
three  or  more  characters  are  involved,  especially  if  we  are  con- 
cerned with  all  of  them. 

Of  course,  in  practical  improvement  we  neglect  all  characters 
that  do  not  concern  us,  whether  they  are  dominant  or  recessive  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  seldom  that  we  are  concerned  with 
so  simple  a  problem  as  the  separation  of  a  single  character  from 
its  recessive  or  dominant  associations.  When  our  problem  is 
to  separate  two  or  three  such  characters  from  their  hereditary 
entanglements,  the  job  becomes  akin  to  hunting  for  the  tradi- 
tional "  needle  in  a  haystack,"  because  the  combinations  are 
exceedingly  complicated  ;  for  we  remember  that  the  individuals 
which  are  recessive  as  to  one  character  may  be  dominant  or 
mixed  as  to  others. ^    The  only  way,  however,  is  to  run  it  down 

1  This  is  why,  if  Jerseys  and  Holstein-Friesians  should  be  crossed,  some  of 
the  offspring  would  be  rich  in  certain  Jersey  characters  and  others  in  other 
characters,  either  Jersey  or  Holstein-Friesian  ;  but  under  the  law  of  chance  not 
once  in  a  million  times,  or  more  perhaps,  would  a  single  animal  be  pure  Jersey 
with  reference  to  all  the  Jersey  characters.   Besides  this,  it  is  more  than  likely 


202         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

patiently  by  dealing  with  relatively  large  numbers,  always 
remembering  that  recessives  when  evident  are  always  pure,  at 
least  as  far  as  their  own  dominants  are  concerned. 

Systems  of  planting.  In  order  to  make  safe  and  certain 
progress  in  improvement  of  plants,  definite  systems  of  planting 
must  be  observed.  Two  systems  are  in  vogue,  —  the  plot  system 
and  the  row  system.  Each  has  its  advocates,  and  each  has  its 
advantages  for  certain  purposes. 

The  plot  system  is  the  older.  In  this  system  the  seeds  of  a 
given  selection  are  planted  together  in  a  small  plot  of  ground, 
which  is  labeled  and  numbered.  In  the  row  system  each  selec- 
tion is  planted  in  a  separate  row,  which  is  also  labeled  and 
numbered. 

Whichever  system  is  adopted,  adequate  methods  of  number- 
ing and  recording  not  only  the  ancestry  of  the  planting  but  also 
the  progeny  or  crop  must  be  devised  and  rigidly  adhered  to  ; 
indeed,  much  of  the  success  of  improvement  in  plants,  which 
necessarily  run  into  large  numbers,  is  dependent  upon  the  skill 
and  faithfulness  of  the  record  keeper. 

Records.  The  exact  form  of  the  record  will  of  course  depend 
upon  the  particular  plants  and  characters  involved,  and  to  some 
extent  upon  the  system  of  planting  adopted,  whether  in  plots 
or  in  rows.  For  simple  operations  the  student  can  devise  his 
own  system  of  records,  and  for  more  complicated  cases  he  is 
referred  to  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  pp.  644-650,  where  com- 
plete illustrations  are  given  of  the  method  of  record  keeping  in 
the  wheat-breeding  experiments  at  Minnesota,  where  the  plot 
system  is  used,  and  in  the  corn-breeding  work  at  Illinois,  where 
the  row  system  is  in  use. 

The  general  principle  is  that  every  plot  or  row  be  designated 
by  number,  that  every  seed  selection  have  also  its  serial  number, 
and  that  full  descriptions  be  recorded  of  all  plantings.    A  little 

that  some  of  the  Jersey  and  some  of  the  Holstein-Friesian  characters  would 
blend,  making  anything  like  a  pure  Jersey  or  Holstein-Friesian  forever  after- 
ward impossible. 


SYSTEMATIC  IMPROVEMENT  OF  PLANTS        203 

study  will  enable  us  to  put  much  meaning  into  these  numbers. 
For  example,  suppose  20  ears  of  corn  are  to  be  planted.  For 
the  first  year  of  an  experiment,  instead  of  numbering  them  from 
I  to  20  it  is  better  to  number  them  from  loi  to  120,  next  year 
from  201  to  220,  and  so  on,  so  that  the  figure  in  the  hundreds' 
place  denotes  the  number  of  generations  of  improvement.  Thus, 
if  an  ear  should  have  the  number  614,  we  know  at  once  that  it 
represents  the  sixth  generation  of  improvement.  In  general,  the 
following  will  be  sufficient  for  the  record  of  simple  breeding 
operations  :  (i)  number  of  seed  ;  (2)  description  ;  (3)  number  of 
plot  or  row  in  which  it  is  planted  ;  (4)  number  of  parent  stock,  — 
one  number  if  fertilization  is  left  open  as  in  corn  or  closed  as  in 
wheat,  but  if  crossed  by  hand,  then  two  numbers  will  be  needed, 
one  for  the  male  and  one  for  the  female  parent. 

With  this  information  and  these  few  general  directions  the 
student  is  amply  able  to  begin  experiments  in  plant  improve- 
ment, and  it  is  the  earnest  hope  of  the  author  that  young  people 
may  quite  generally  appreciate  the  opportunity  for  improvement 
in  seed  and  plant  and  flower,  that  still  stands  waiting  the  hand 
of  the  -breeder.  It  is  a  fascinating  field  into  which  the  student 
is  advised,  even  urged,  to  enter,  —  cautiously  at  first,  taking  one 
or  two  simple  things,  remembering  always  that  such  work  runs 
rapidly  into  numbers  ;  then,  as  experience  is  gained,  he  may 
range  farther  afield. 

It  is  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  nor  is  it  a  chimerical  dream 
to  say  that  the  students  of  our  better  schools,  aided  by  their 
teachers,  can,  if  they  will,  do  more  to  further  improve  many  of 
our  cultivated  plants  than  can  the  farmers  themselves.  It  is  well 
within  their  powers.  They  have  the  time  and  can  acquire  the 
skill,  —  things  which  are  difficult  to  secure  to  the  man  that  is 
busy  in  active  commercial  life. 

As  an  example  of  what  can  be  done  in  the  improvement  of  a 
single  character,  I  introduce  the  following  table,  which  exhibits 
the  results  of  ten  years  of  selection  for  high  and  low  oil  of  corn 
carried  on  by  Dr.  C.  G.  Hopkins  of  the  University  of  Illinois. 


204 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


In  these  experiments  the  planting  was  always  made  from  the 
ears  that  contained  the  highest  and  lowest  obtainable  proportions 
of  oil  respectively.  The  selection  may  be  roughly  based  on  the 
size  of  the  germ,  the  largest  germs  having  the  most  oil. 


Ten  Generations  of  Breeding  Corn  for  Increase  and 
Decrease  of  Oil 


High-oil  plot, 

Low-oil  plot, 

Difference 

Year 

average  per  cent  oil 

average  per  cent  oil 

between 

In  seed 

In  crop 

In  seed 

In  crop 

crops, 

planted 

harvested 

planted 

harvested 

1896 

4.70 

4.70 

.00 

1897 

5-39 

473 

4-03 

4.06 

.67           • 

1898 

5.20 

5-15 

3-65 

3-99 

1. 16 

1899 

6.15 

5-64 

3-47 

3.82 

1.82 

1900 

6.30 

6.12 

3-33 

3-57 

2-55 

I9OI 

6.77 

6.09 

2-93 

3-43 

2.66 

1902 

6-95 

6.41 

3.00 

3.02 

3-39 

1903 

673 

6.50 

2.62 

2.97 

3-53 

1904 

7.16 

6.97 

2.80 

2.89 

4.08 

1905 

7.88 

7.29 

2.67 

2.58 

4.71 

1906 

7.86 

l-Zl 

2.20 

2.66 

4.71 

Exercises.  Study  and  report  upon  any  plant-breeding  operations  of  the 
neighborhood,  especially  with  reference  to  the  following  points :  what  im- 
provements are  sought ;  how  seeds  are  selected,  and  on  what  points  selection 
is  based ;  how  stored  for  the  winter ;  how  planted,  and  what  records  are  kept. 

Plant  in  separate  rows  ten  of  the  best  ears  of  corn  obtainable,  describe 
and  number  each  ear,  and  give  the  same  number  to  the  row  in  which  it  is 
planted.  Then  make  a  careful  study  of  the  crop,  both  as  to  yield  and  uni- 
formity, using  the  statistical  methods  for  determining  variability. 

Plant  separately  from  the  tips,  the  middle,  and  the  butts  of  the  same  ears 
of  corn.  Next  year  select  a  set  in  the  same  way  from  the  respective  crops, 
and  continue  the  experiment  for  a  series  of  years  in  order  to  get  the  cumu- 
lative effect  of  the  late  small  kernels  at  the  tip  as  compared  with  the  early 
and  large  kernels  of  the  base.  Do  not  look  for  too  much  difference  the 
first  year. 

Bring  to  the  school  garden  any  field  crop  or  garden  plant  in  which  there 
is  general  interest,  and  begin  work,  looking  to  its  improvement. 


PART  II 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  RACES 

Part  II  deals  with  the  material  out  of  which  domesticated 
species  and  varieties  have  been  made.  It  aims  to  sketch  briefly, 
as  far  as  it  is  known,  the  history  of  domestication  and  to  indicate 
^s  well  as  may  be  done  at  the  present  time  the  specific  wild  race 
to  which  each  domesticated  form  is  supposed  to  trace  when  run 
back  to  its  wild  progenitors.  The  limitations  of  space  forbid 
anything  more  than  the  briefest  outline,  but  to  further  assist  the 
student  the  text  is  supplied  with  references  to  fuller  sources  of 
information. 

The  attempt  to  trace  the  history  of  domesticated  animals  and 
plants  back  to  their  primitive  forms  is  beset  with  many  difficulties. 
First  of  all,  the  domesticated  races  have  been  substantially  altered 
during  their  long  removal  from  the  wild,  subject  primarily  to 
man's  selection  ;  and  again,  in  the  centuries  that  have  elapsed 
since  domestication,  many  a  wild  race  has  become  extinct,  and 
because  of  this  we  may  often  be  deceived  as  to  the  exact  par- 
entage and  be  inclined  to  credit  it  to  some  near  relative  that 
has  persisted  ;  still  again,  wild  races  themselves  change  without 
man's  interference,  and  for  all  these  reasons  this  attempt  to 
assign  definite  sources  of  our  domesticated  races  must  be 
regarded  as  more  or  less  approximate  in  its  conclusions. 

The  student  will  be  struck  with  the  fact  that  most  of  our 
animals  and  plants  trace  to  Old- World  forms.  This  is  not 
necessarily  because  the  New  World  was  less  prolific  in  valuable 
material,  but  rather  because  civilization,  as  we  know  it  at  least, 
commenced  in  Asia  and  worked  westward.  In  this  way  much 
valuable  material  indigenous  to  the  American  continent  was 

205 


2o6        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

neglected  for  no  other  reason  than  this,  namely,  that  too  good 
a  start  was  already  made  with  Old-World  material ;  and  only 
where  something  distinctly  better  was  discovered  here,  as  corn 
and  the  turkey,  were  American  races  utilized,  excepting  only 
when  Old- World  forms  failed,  as  they  did  with  the  grape  and 
the  gooseberry. 

The  material  of  this  part  may  be  used  in  three  ways :  as  text,  to 
follow  appropriate  chapters  in  Part  I  as  indicated  ;  as  reference 
matter,  to  be  taken  in  connection  with  Part  I ;  or  as  independent 
matter. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS 

Domesticated  mammals  •  The  dog  •  The  horse  •  The  ass  •  The  ox  •  The  sheep  • 

The  goat  •  The  pig  •  The  cat  •  Domesticated  birds  •  The  hen  •  The  goose  •  The 

duck  •  The  turkey  •  The  peacock  •  The  swan  •  The  guinea  fowl  •  Additional 

races  and  semidomestication  •  Unwelcome  domestication 

As  the  subject  matter  of  Part  II  constitutes  an  application  of 
the  principles  discussed  in  the  early  chapters,  we  are  ready  at 
once  to  proceed,  without  special  introduction,  to  the  detailed  study 
of  the  origin  of  special  races  of  domesticated  animals. 


Domesticated  Mammals 

The  dog  (Canis  familiaris).  Of  all  the  wild  animals  that  have 
been  brought  into  the  service  of  man,  some  form  of  dog  was 
undoubtedly  the  first,  for 
reasons  brought  out  in  the 
chapter.  How  Animals  came 
to  be  Domesticated.  His 
exact  origin  is  of  course  un- 
known, but  he  has  numerous 
wild  relatives  in  all  parts  of 
the  world,  not  only  within 
historic  times  but  even  to 
the  present  day.  The  near- 
est of  these  are  the  wolf  and 
the  jackal  in  their  various 
forms,  both  of  which  are  said  to  breed  freely  with  the  domes- 
tic dog  upon  opportunity,  and  both  of  which,  more  especially 
the  wolf,  have  been  frequently  domesticated.  The  Indian,  for 
example,  kept  numerous  ''dogs,"  mostly  developed  from  the 

207 


Fig.  34.    The  collie,  one  of  the  finest 
domesticated  types 


2o8        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

coyote  of  the  prairie  and  often  with  a  dash  of  blood  of  the 
timber  wolf  to  give  energy  and  ferocity  (see  Fig.  3). 

A  very  doglike  wild  animal  is  the  fox,  which,  however, 
is  not  commonly  regarded  as  one  of  the  immediate  progeni- 
tors of  the  common  dog  on  account  of  structural  differences 
in  the  skull  and  the  more  significant  fact  that  the  pupil  of 


Fig.  35.    The  dingo,  or  wild  dog  of  Australia ;  nearer  the  domestic  dog  than 
any  other  existing  wild  species 

his  eye  is  elliptical,  whereas  it  is  round  in  the  wolf,  the  jackal, 
and  the  dog. 

These  slight  structural  differences,  however,  are  counting  for 
less  than  formerly  in  tracing  relationships,  and  the  fact  that  cer- 
tain South  American  wolves  are  very  foxlike,  as  are  some  of  our 
dogs,  leads  us  to  be  careful  in  denying  the  fox  even  remote 
connection  with  our  domesticated  races. 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  209 

The  wild  animal  nearest  to  the  domestic  dog  seems  to  be  the 
dingo  of  Australia.  It  might  be  called  the  wild  dog  of  that 
island.  Whether  from  life  in  a  restricted  area  and  with  a  simple 
fauna  it  has  had  less  opportunity  to  exercise  and  develop  its 
wolfish  instincts  than  has  its  cousin  of  the  continents,  or  whether 
the  original  stock  was  essentially  more  doglike,  we  do  not  know. 
We  only  know  that  the  dingo  is  more  like  a  dog  than  is  any 
other  wild  animal  of  the  present  time,  and  that  he  is  very  like 
certain  forms  of  the  domestic  species. 

We  know,  too,  that  the  line  between  the  dog  and  the  wolf  is 
not  distinctly  drawn  ;  that  is  to  say,  there  is  more  difference 
between  different  breeds  of  the  domestic  dog  than  there  is  be- 
tween certain  breeds  and  the  wolf  of  the  wilds.  On  this  point 
compare  the  common  dogs  as  we  know  them  with  the  Siberian 
wolfhound  and  with  the  timber  wolf. 

They  all  possess  a  common  instinct  to  hunt  and  a  common 
ability  to  trail  by  the  scent. ^  True,  a  few  breeds,  like  the  poodle 
and  the  dachshund,  have  lost  the  hunting  instinct,  having  been 
developed  as  pets,  but  in  others  it  has  been  well  preserved.  The 
bulldog  is  more  savage  and  more  courageous  than  any  wolf  ever 
known.  The  mastiff  does  not  hunt,  but  he  watches,  which  is 
essentially  the  same  thing.  The  St.  Bernard,  which  is  a  gentle 
dog,  displays  his  native  instinct  in  hunting  men  for  rescue. ^ 

The  bloodhound  has  a  keener  scent  and  greater  ability  to 
follow  a  trail  than  has  any  wolf,  but  he  has  lost  the  savage  part 
of  the  hunting  instinct ;  for,  contrary  to  popular  belief,  he  is 
quite  satisfied  to  sniff  his  quarry  at  the  end  of  the  trail. ^ 

The  greyhound  and  the  Russian  wolfhound  have  lost  their 
ability  to  trail,  but  preserve  their  old  hunting  instinct,  so,  while 
obliged  to  depend  upon  sight  to  discover  the  quarry,  they  are 

1  Curiously  enough,  the  "  bark "  which  is  characteristic  of  the  domestic 
dog  and  largely  absent  in  the  wild  is  readily  acquired  upon  domestication,  but 
abandoned  by  the  same  individuals  upon  assuming  the  feral  state. 

2  Read  the  story  of  "  Barry  "  of  St.  Bernard. 

8  The  term"  bloodhound"  means  blooded  ox  highly  bred.  It  has  no  reference  to 
ferocity,  for  the  bloodhound  is  the  gentlest  of  all  dogs,  not  excepting  the  poodle. 


2IO        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

still  most  excellent  hunters.  The  hunting  hound  still  retains  the 
original  instinct  to  hunt  in  packs  like  the  wolf,  an  instinct  which, 
in  the  collie,  has  been  developed  into  herding.^ 

These  habits  are  not  far  from  those  of  the  wolf  of  the  woods. 
This  skillful  hunter  does  not  charge  his  prey,  but  he  hunts 
systematically,  singly,  or  in  packs.    A  man  being  stalked  by 


Fig.  36.    Prize-winning  great  Danes,  the  largest  of  all  dogs.    Winderbourne 
kennels,  Washington,  D.C. 

wolves  would  be  long  unaware  of  his  peril.  He  might  see  a 
single  wolf  running  off  to  the  side  at  a  considerable  distance, 
apparently  disappearing  in  the  bushes.  Presently  he  might  see 
another,  perhaps  following,  perhaps  in  another  quarter.  If  new 
to  the  woods,  he  might  think  that  wolves  were  plenty  but  all 
great  cowards,  while  if  he  knew  their  habits  in  hunting,  he  would 

1  Read  "  Hob,  Son  of  Battle,"  in  this  connection. 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  211 

know  that  the  whple  pack  was  upon  his  trail,  not  following 
straight  but  circling  round  him  in  a  gradually  narrowing  and 
ultimately  fatal  spiral ;  for,  gaining  confidence  with  exertion  and 
whetted  hunger,  the  pack  will  ultimately  make  the  charge  at  a 
favorable  moment  after  the  quarry  is  at  bay  and  shows  the  first 
evidence  of  defenselessness.  This  is  the  natural  method  of  the 
shrewdest  and  most  cowardly  hunter  the  forest  of  nature  ever 
produced,  and  it  is  perfectly  natural  that  such  an  animal  should 
have  been  not  once  but  many  times  domesticated.  Thus  came 
the  dog  to  dwell  among  us. 

The  horse  (Equus  cahallus).  Unlike  the  dog,  the  horse  has  no 
near  relative  in  the  wild  ;  that  is  to  say,  there  is  no  existing  wild 
species  that,  by  any  stretch  of  the  imagination,  could  be  regarded 
as  the  direct  progenitor  of  the  modern  horse,  or  from  which  the 
horse  could  by  any  possibility  be  developed.^  If  all  the  dogs  of 
the  world  should  disappear,  they  could  be  reproduced  from  the 
wild  ;  but  if  the  domestic  horse  should  disappear,  he  could  not  be 
restored  from  any  other  existing  species.  .     . 

While  the  immediate  progenitor  of  the  horse  is,  and  likely 
has  been  for  a  long  time,  extinct,  yet  two  significant  facts  re- 
main. The  first  is,  that  he  was  almost  certainly  developed  from 
some  primitive  stock  in  or  near  the  semiarid  plains  of  Central 
Asia,  having  wolves  for  his  nearest  neighbors  and  principal 
enemies.  The  other  fact  is  equally  significant  ;  namely,  that 
while  the  immediate  progenitor  is  lost,  we  really  know  more  of 
the  ancestry  and  evolution  of  the  horse  than  of  any  other  animal 
domesticated  or  wild,  living  or  extinct.^ 

1  Objection  might  be  made  to  this  statement  on  account  of  the  Tarpan,  or 
so-called  wild  horse,  which  has  been  known  on  the  steppes  of  Tartary  and 
eastward  to  Central  Asia  certainly  since  the  time  of  Pallas  (1760),  though  it  is 
now  confined  to  the  more  remote  regions  of  the  interior.  These  animals  are 
true  horses ;  and  if  they  are  aboriginal  stock,  they  are  to  be  regarded  as  the 
real  progenitor  of  our  domesticated  race.  It  is  more  than  likely,  however,  that 
they  are  feral  rather  than  truly  wild. 

2  For  a  more  extended  account  of  the  origin  of  the  horse  and  his  evolution 
upward,  see  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  pp.  298-305. 


Fk;.  37.    Prehistoric  five-toed  horse  restored,  and  compared  in  size  with  the 
head  of  the  modern  horse.  —  After  Osborn 


212 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  213 

The  best  of  evidence  exists  to  show  that  the  modern  horse 
has  developed  from  a  diminutive  five-toed  ancestor  not  much 
larger  than  a  jack  rabbit.  Fig.  ^y  shows  this  animal  restored, 
and  compared  in  size  with  the  head  of  the  common  horse.  The 
story  is  too  long  to  be  recited  here,  but  should  be  read  in  col- 
lateral literature.  Space  permits  us  to  note  only  the  significant 
fact  that  actual  relics  have  been  found  in  western  North  America, 
and  are  still  in  existence,  showing  the  entire  evolution  of  the 
horse  from  the  little  five-toed  animal  just  mentioned,  up  through 
the  forms  with  three  toes,  to  the  present  form  with  one,  the  so- 
called  "  splint  bones  "  at  the  side  being  all  that  is  left  of  the 
original  digits  II  and  IV,  all  traces  of  Nos.  I  and  V  having 
long  since  disappeared.  Along  with  this  reduction  in  the  number 
of  toes  has  gone  a  gradual  increase  in  the  size  of  the  body  and 
a  hardening  of  the  teeth  till  the  readaptation  was  complete  from 
a  small  and  probably  timid  animal  living  on  soft  feed  and  low 
ground  to  the  swiftest  of  all  animals,  of  good  size,  subsisting  on 
upland  grasses  and  prairies  and  fitted  for  locomotion  on  hard  land. 

More  than  to  any  one  else  we  are  indebted  for  this  history  to 
Professor  H.  F".  Osborn  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  New  York,  who  is  now  completing  his  material  for  an 
almost  perfect  history  of  the  horse,  from  the  diminutive  ancestor 
down,  or  rather  up,  to  the  modern  domesticated  form,  with  many 
distinct  types  between,  but  merging  into  each  other  gradually 
and  distinguished  by  differences  almost  imperceptible.  Differ- 
ing though  they  do  from  the  modern  horse,  these  many  forms 
are  clearly  horselike,  and,  moreover,  they  are  connected  by  un- 
mistakable links  that  bind  them  all  together  as  one  of  the 
greatest  evolutionary  achievements  of  the  earth. 

As  has  been  intimated,  this  history  has  been  largely  traced 
through  fossil  remains  found  in  western  America,  especially  in 
Wyoming.  Europe  affords  evidences  of  the  same  evolutionary 
processes,  and  without  a  doubt  the  same  course  of  development 
could  be  traced  in  Asia,  as  will  likely  one  day  be  done,  if  exten- 
sive explorations  are  made  in  that  country. 


214 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


We  know  that  several  horselike  forms  developed  in  South 
America,  but  that  all  perished  for  one  cause  or  another,  one  at 
least  from  soft  teeth.  It  is  exceedingly  remarkable  that  while 
the  North  American  horse  progressed  almost  up  to  the  modern 


Head 


Fore  Foot 


HindFoot 


Teeth 


OneToe 

Splints  of 

2nd  and  4th 

digits 


One_Toe 

Splints  of 

2nd  and  4th 

digits 


Protohippus 


Mesohippus 


ThreeToes 

Side  toes 

not  touching 

the  ground 


ThreeToes 

Side  toes 

not  touching 

the  ground 


Long- 
Crowned, 
Cement- 
covered 


Three  Toes 

Side  toes 

touching  the 

ground; 

Splint  0/  5th  digit 


Protorohippus 


Hyracotherium 
(Eohippus) 


ThreeToes 

Side  toes 

touching  the 

ground 


Four  Toes 


Short - 
Crowned, 
without 
Cement 


Four_Toes 
Splint  of 
1st  digit 


ThreeToes 
Splint  of 
5th  digit 


Fig.  38.    Comparative  drawings  of  skulls,  feet,  and  teeth  of  prehistoric  horses, 

showing  evolutionary  development.   Reproduced,  by  permission,  from  "Origin 

and  History  of  the  Horse,"  by  H.  F.  Osborn 

type,^  he  became  extinct  for  some  reason,  and,  so  far  as  we  know, 
before  he  was  ever  domesticated. 

What  caused  this  extinction  here  and  yet  preserved  the 
Asiatic  form  till  man  came  upon  the  earth  we  cannot,  with  our 
present  knowledge,  even  conjecture;  though  it  is  known  that  the 


1  He  had  reached  the  size  of  the  Shetland  pony  with  three  toes,  only  one 
of  which  rested  firmly  on  the  ground,  digits  II  and  IV  being  much  like  the 
"dew  claws"  (digits  II  and  V)  of  pigs  ;  digits  I  and  V  being  represented  by 
"splints"  (digits  numbered  I-V  beginning  on  the  inside). 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  215 

horse,  while  able  to  maintain  himself  against  wolves  in  Asia,  is 
not  able  to  withstand  the  puma,  which  has  exterminated  the  feral 
horses  in  certain  localities  of  South  America. 

All  this,  however,  is  but  ancient  history,  and  now  we  can  only 
speculate  upon  what  would  have  been  our  misfortune  and  our 
condition  had  the  prehistoric  horselike  animal  become  extinct 
in  Asia,  as  he  did  in  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  we  had  been 
obliged  to  get  on  without  the  horse.^ 

Since  his  domestication  the  horse  has  doubtless  changed  but 
little.  He  is  larger,  stronger,  and  swifter,  but  structurally  he 
seems  to  have  been  for  a  long  time  a  finished  animal.  Under 
domestication  he  has  developed  the  trot,  until  with  some  breeds 
it  is  an  instinctive  gait.  This  is  a  great  tribute  to  breeding,  for 
the  trot  is  not  a  natural  gait  with  animals  of  the  horse  kind, 
except  for  a  few  steps  between  the  canter  and  the  walk. 

However  early  the  domestication  of  the  horse,  —  and  it  must 
have  been  very  early,  —  its  introduction  into  modern  historic  life 
is  comparatively  recent.  For  example,  the  Egyptian  carvings 
and  frescoes  show  nothing  of  the  horse  until  after  the  close  of 
the  rule  of  the  shepherd  kings  (1800  or  1900  B.C.),  when  that 
country  first  came  into  contact  with  Assyria.  In  Xerxes'  army 
even  the  Arabs  were  mounted  upon  camels.  The  Hebrews  had 
no  horses  until  about  the  time  of  Solomon  and  after  their  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Syrians.  The  earliest  human  records  of  the 
horse  are  the  Assyrian  sculptures,  where,  curiously  enough,  the 
horseman  is  accompanied  by  an  attendant  who  leads  the  horse, 
an  attention  which  would  be  greatly  scorned  by  his  Cossack 
representative  of  to-day,  as  it  would  by  any  rider  not  the  merest 
novice,  showing  that  we  have  improved  somewhat  in  horseman- 
ship since  the  old  Assyrian  days. 

The  ass  (Equus  hemionus  and  Equusasinus).  In  eastern  countries 
the  ass  has  long  been  a  favorite  beast  of  burden,  antedating  the 
horse  by  many  centuries.    In  our  own  country  this  animal  has 

1  It,  will  add  to  our  appreciation  of  the  horse  if  students  will  choose  this 
topic  for  an  occasional  composition. 


2l6        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

not  been  a  favorite  except  in  the  form  of  the  mule,  which  is 
half  horse. ^ 

Two  distinct  species  of  the  truly  wild  ass  are  known,  the 
Asiatic  {E.  hemiotms)  and  the  African  {E.  asinus).  The  for- 
mer range  over  the  more  arid  regions  of  Syria,  Persia,  Tibet, 
Mongolia,  and  western  India,  and  the  latter  is  indigenous  to 
Abyssinia  and  the  highlands  of  northeastern  Africa  generally. 

It  is  from  this  latter  stock  that  the  common  ass  of  Europe 
and  America  is  descended,  through  the  early  Egyptian  domesti- 
cation. It  is  considered  more  than  likely  also,  on  account  of 
their  close  resemblance,  that  the  domesticated  races  of  Asia  trace 
to  the  same  source  rather  than  to  the  wild  stock  of  their  own 
country,  at  least  so  far  as  the  historic  regions  of  Palestine  and 
the  west  are  concerned,  whose  relations  were  from  an  early  day 
much  more  intimate  with  the  civilization  of  Egypt  than  with 
the  wild  and  remote  Asiatic  regions  inhabited  by  E.  hemiomis. 

Upon  the  whole,  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  ass  has  profited 
much  by  domestication.  Fitted  by  nature  to  exist  under  hard 
conditions,  man  has  made  the  most  of  his  natural  faculties  in 
this  direction,  and  he  has  generally  suffered  neglect  and  abuse 
above  that  of  any  animal  that  has  ever  been  domesticated,  un- 
less it  may  be  the  Eskimo  dog.  Accordingly  he  is  almost  every- 
where a  dull,  spiritless  creature,  poorly  fed  and  ill  conditioned 
generally,  —  a  walking  advertisement  of  a  hard  life. 

All  writers,  however,  both  ancient  and  modern,  agree  as  to 
the  spirit,  beauty,  and  fleetness  of  the  wild  ass,  especially  the 
African  progenitor  of  the  domesticated  form.  Bible  history,  too, 
teaches  that  the  ass  was  not  always  regarded  with  the  low  esteem 
of  the  present  day,  but  that  in  former  times  he  was  a  general 
favorite  in  domestication  as  he  was  a  common  symbol  among 

1  Strictly  speaking,  a  "mule"  is  any  hybrid  or  "cross"  between  distinct 
species.  In  common  parlance,  however,  the  term  is  limited  to  the  offspring  of 
the  female  horse  and  the  male  ass.  The  opposite  or  reciprocal  cross  between 
the  female  ass  and  the  male  horse  is  called  the  hinny.  It  does  not  differ 
materially  from  the  mule,  but  is  seldom  seen  because  oTthe  aversion  to  keeping 
the  ass  in  numbers,  as  would  be  necessary  to  breed  hinnies. 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  217 

Hebrew  writers  for  swiftness  and  spirit  in  the  wild.  It  appears 
that  he  has  suffered  .by  comparison  with  the  horse,  of  which  he 
is  instinctively  regarded  as  a  sort  of  poor  relation.  The  Spanish 
people,  however,  have  continued  in  their  esteem  of  this  useful 
animal,  and  it  is  to  them  that  we  owe  the  excellent  quality  of 
our  modern  stock,  particularly  as  regards  size,  spirit,  and  finish. 

It  requires  but  the  slightest  contact  with  this  peculiar  relative 
of  the  horse  to  discover  that  anything  like  low  spirits  and  inac- 
tivity are  the  result  partly  of  poor  feed  and  partly  of  an  excessive 
suspicion  of  all  new  things  and  an  exaggerated  disposition  not 
to  run  away  like  the  horse,  but  to  stop  and  investigate ;  indeed, 
curiosity  is  one  of  his  principal  faculties.  As  to  intellect,  he  is 
easily  underrated,  for  he  is  fully  the  equal  of  the  horse,  his 
stupidity  being  apparent  and  not  real,  like  that  of  the  ox. 

The  excessively  long  ears  and  large  bone  of  the  modern  ass 
are  the  distinguishing  features  of  the  African  stock,  whereas  the 
Asiatic  has  short  ears,  is  lighter  in  limb,  and  so  swift  in  action 
that  it  is  said  to  be  impossible  for  the  hunter  to  run  one  of  them 
down  even  with  the  best  of  mounts. 

In  connection  with  the  domesticated  horse  and  ass  another 
group  of  closely  related  wild  animals  must  be  mentioned,  the 
zebra  {Eqims  zebra)  and  the  quagga  {Eq?ius  quagga).  These 
strange  horselike  animals,  in  most  respects  nearer  like  the  ass 
than  the  horse,  exist  in  some  three  or  four  well-marked  and 
more  or  less  distinct  races,  all  native  to  southern  Africa. 

The  true  zebra  is  smaller  (twelve  to  thirteen  hands)  ^  than 
either  the  horse  or  the  ass,  lives  in  the  highlands,  and  is 
covered  on  both  body  and  legs  with  a  beautifully  complete 
system  of  black  stripes  on  a  background  of  dirty  white.^   The 

1  A  "  hand "  is  four  inches,  and  is  the  universal  unit  for  measuring  the 
height  of  horses.  This  height  is  taken  at  the  withers  or  shoulders,  at  what 
would  be  the  highest  point  of  the  body  when  the  animal  is  standing  with  his 
head  down,  as  in  grazing. 

2  Suggesting  the  reason  for  the  ancient  name  "  hippotigris," —  /lippo  (horse) 
and /i^^rz/ (tiger), —  a  name  similar  in  make-up  to  "camelopard"  (camel  leopard) 
for  the  giraffe. 


21 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


quagga  has  shorter  ears  and  wears  more  hair  upon  the  tail  than 
does  the  zebra.  He  is  also  somewhat  heavier  in  the  body  and 
the  stripes  are  less  distinctly  marked,  fading  out  almost  com- 
pletely into  a  dirty  white  on  the  hinder  and  under  parts  of  the 
body,  except  for  a  dark  back  stripe  running  from  the  withers 
to  the  setting  on  of  the  tail.    The  flesh  of  the  quagga  has 


Fig.  39.    The  water  buffalo  of  Asia  and  Africa.    This  is  the  only  true 

buffalo,  though  the  name  is  often  applied  to  both  the  American  and  the 

European  bison 

long  been  esteemed  by  the  Boers  as  food  for  servants,  that  is, 
natives. 

In  all  of  these  types  and  races  the  zebra  is  timid  in  the  wild 
and  vicious  in  captivity.  Accordingly  he  has  never  been  domesti- 
cated or  even  fully  tamed  except  to  the  extent  seen  in  shows,  and 
to  the  further  extent  that  individuals  are  sometimes  "  in-spanned  " 
with  mules  by  the  African  farmers,  thus  making  up  a  part  of 
the  team. 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  219 

The  ox.  Our  domesticated  cattle  are  of  two  distinct  species  : 
Bos  taunts,  covering  all  European  and  American  races  and 
breeds  ;  and  Bos  indicus,  the  smaller,  lighter-limbed,  and  so- 
called  sacred  ^  or  humped  cattle  of  India,  similar  to  the  Galla 
cattle  of  Africa. 

Both  of  these  species  have  been  so  long  domesticated  and 
the  countries  they  inhabit  are  so  densely  populated  that  it  is 
impossible  to  identify  the  original  wild  stock  of  either.  There 
is,  however,  no  lack  of  material  from  which  they  might  have 
sprung,  for  their  wild  relatives  are  numerous  and  our  only  diffi- 
culty is  in  assigning  exact  relationships. 

These  relationships,  however,  are  more  easily  traced  for  the 
Indian  cattle  than  for  the  European  and  American  breeds, 
because  the  vast  and  largely  inaccessible  mountain  wildernesses 
of  the  Himalayan  foothills  afford  a  secure  retreat  and  harbor 
for  a  number  of  truly  wild  races  of  the  cattle  kind,  almost  any 
one  of  which  might  have  been  the  true  progenitor  of  Bos  ittdicus? 

Perhaps  the  most  notable  of  these,  as  it  is  the  largest,  is  the 
gaur  {Bos  gmcriis),  a  thoroughly  wild  and  untamed  animal 
inhabiting  the  hills  and  inaccessible  highlands  of  India,  extend- 
ing as  far  eastward  as  Burma  and  the  Malay  Peninsula,  where  it 
is  known  as  the  sladong.  This  is  a  true  wild  ox  of  monstrous 
size,  standing  occasionally  as  high  as  eighteen  hands,  or  six  feet, 
in  exceptional  old  males.  His  height  is  exaggerated  by  his 
exceedingly  high  withers,  amounting  to  a  hump,  were  it  not  that 
the  elevation  is  prolonged  into  a  ridge  running  well  down  the 

1  This  is  evidently  another  of  the  many  erroneous  but  popular  traditions.  I 
am  assured  by  the  most  reliable  Hindus  that  these  cattle  are  no  more  sacred 
than  are  any  others  ;  indeed,  that  they  are  not,  all  things  considered,  so  highly 
esteemed  as  is  the  buffalo. 

2  These  Hindu  cattle  are  familiar  to  every  boy  that  has  attended  the  shows. 
They  are  smaller  and  more  slender  than  our  cattle,  and  their  more  suitable 
conformation  and  gentle  disposition  fit  them  so  excellently  for  the  road  that 
they  are  freely  used  for  purposes  of  travel  in  their  own  country.  Ranging  from 
a  clear  white  to  a  dirty  cream  color,  with  their  curious  hump  at  the  shoulders, 
they  make  a  most  striking  appearance  that  would  distinguish  them  from  the 
common  cattle  of  our  own  country,  even  to  the  most  casual  observer. 


2  20        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

back.  The  color  is  brown,  often  tawny  white.  The  horns  are 
truly  monstrous,  being  occasionally,  according  to  good  authority, 
as  long  as  thirty-nine  inches  each,  with  a  basal  girth  as  high  as 
nineteen  inches.  This  animal  is  exceedingly  wary,  avoiding 
cultivated  or  open  country  of  any  kind,  and,  as  has  been  said, 


( 

■                       .«<tfllBkte^^''^aJiKt 

i^^tS^^M^P 

I^^^Bj^Hj^B^n^^^^^^^^. , 

^^fK^^^mrj^: 

"  '.^^hhhHh^S9 

j^y^a^^^^^BHlPyi^^r^'M/' 

E^^^^^^^^^^ 

"^i^^S^SBSmKKl^^^  H 

H^^BB 

^  ^'"^^^^^^^^"^^iSlJ^^^^^HEl^^BBSBt     vi 

"^^^ 

Fig,  40.    The  gaur,  or  great  wild  ox  of  the  highlands  of  India 

is  never  domesticated.  He  is  a  true  wild  ox  in  every  partic- 
ular, as  large,  undoubtedly,  as  the  Bos  primigenus  of  Europe 
ever  was. 

The  gayal,  sometimes  called  mithan,  is  a  semidomesticated 
and  near  relative  of  the  gaur,  inhabiting  the  hilly  lands  of  north- 
eastern India.  It  is  smaller  than  the  gaur,  and,  being  lower  at 
the  withers  and  higher  at  the  hump,  stands  with  his  back  nearly 
level.    He  runs  wild  in  the  more  remote  districts,  and  is  to  be 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS 


221 


regarded  as  an  intermediate  between  the  domesticated  and  the 
wild  cattle  of  the  Indian  type. 

The  banteng,  or  native  ox  of  Java,  extending  also  well  into  the 
continent  in  the  region  of  Burma,  is  a  close  relative  of  the  gaur 
and  the  gayal,  but  nearer  the  common  or  domesticated  form.  It 
exists  both  domesticated  and  wild.  All  these  species  have  a 
much  better  opportunity  to  linger  indefinitely  in  their  natural 


elk,  or  wild  ox  of  Tibet 


State  than  had  similar  species  in  Europe,  because  of  the  immense 
stretches  of  hills  and  unbroken  wilderness  lying  along  the  base 
and  up  the  foothills  of  the  Himalayan  Mountains.  Accordingly 
we  are  not  surprised  at  being  able  to  find  here  truly  wild  cattle. 
Still  higher  up  in  the  highlands  of  Tibet,  fourteen  to  twenty 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  is  the  yak  {Bos  grimniens),  that 
hardiest  of  all  the  cattle  kind,  delighting  in  the  wildest  hardships 
of  that  most  forbidding  country.  He  is  a  true  ox  in  all  essential 
particulars,  not  very  well  endowed  with  vision  but  with  the 


22  2        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

keenest  scent.  He  can  be  domesticated  and  is  employed  as  a 
beast  of  burden,  but  if  unused  for  a  little  time,  he  becomes 
extremely  wild  and  likely  to  escape  on  opportunity.  In  any 
event  he  steadily  refuses  to  eat  corn,  confining  himself  to  the 
hard  and  scanty  grasses  of  his  native  plateaus. 

Asia  affords  still  one  more  relative  of  the  cattle  kind,  though 
a  little  more  distant  than  these  just  enumerated.  This  is  the 
wild  buffalo  {Bos  biibiihis),  the  race  to  which  the  term  "  buffalo  " 
properly  belongs.^  These  curious  animals  are  about  the  size  of 
the  largest  of  our  common  cattle,  of  a  dun  or  mouse  color,  nearly 
destitute  of  hair,  with  long,  flattened,  and  corrugated  horns  curv- 
ing backward  rather  than  forward,  as  in  most  of  the  cattle  kind. 
The  wild  buffaloes  are  domesticated  in  both  India  and  Burma, 
where  they  are  highly  esteemed  for  their  milk,  and  where  they 
are  indispensable  for  labor  in  the  rice  fields  and  other  lowlands  ^ 
(see  Fig.  39). 

Their  love  for  water  is  proverbial,  and  whether  domesticated 
or  wild  the  heat  of  the  day  will  generally  find  them  comfortably 
submerged  in  any  accessible  water,  with  only  the  nostrils  stick- 
ing out.  Nothing  can  restrain  them  from  seeking  this  protection 
against  heat  and  insects  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  if  the 
farmer  is  slow  in  detaching  the  plow  or  wagon,  it  makes  very 
little  difference  with  the  buffalo  after  he  is  fairly  headed  for  the 
stream  or  the  pool.  The  buffalo  is  wild  on  the  plains  of  the 
Ganges,  the  Brahmaputra,  and  along  the  foot  of  the  Himalayas, 
besides  having  become  feral  in  the  forests  of  Burma  and  other 
regions  in  southeastern  Asia. 

Besides  these  Asiatic  species,  closely  related  to  our  domestic 
cattle,  we  have  the  Galla  ox,  a  humped  race  native  to  Africa  and 
considered  by  Riitimeyer  as  closely  related  to  the  banteng  of 

1  The  term  is  popularly  but  erroneously  applied  to  the  American  bison, 
which  is  structurally  as  far  removed  from  the  true  buffalo  as  are  our  common 
cattle. 

2  These  useful  animals  have  also  made  their  way  as  domesticated  beasts  of 
labor  over  considerable  portions  of  Asia  Minor,  Egypt,  and  Italy,  and  may  be 
seen  in  most  of  our  shows  and  zoological  gardens  of  this  country  and  Europe. 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  223 

Asia.  Africa  also  possesses  several  distinct  species  of  true 
buffalo,  notably  the  cape  buffalo  of  the  south,  —  with  horns  much 
like  those  of  the  musk  ox,  —  the  Sierra  Leone  buffalo,  and  the 
small  red  or  short-horned  species  of  the  western  coast  region. 

In  extinct  forms  of  large  size  Africa  is  peculiarly  rich.  If 
accounts  may  be  believed,  the  horn  cores  of  one  specimen  from 
Algeria  measured  no  less  than  eleven  feet  and  another  from  the 
cape  fourteen  feet.  As  they  would  be  considerably  larger  when 
covered  with  their  horny  sheath,  the  spread  of  the  horns  and 
the  size  of  these  animals  must  have  been  truly  prodigious. 


2^^^8 

1 

^^^^^1 

R 

^^^^^^1 

1 

K^^K^flHI^^^^^I 

r  '1 

^fe'-  •       '^^ 

^^^^Wi 

r   .  ...^ 

Hh^^^' 

...  :!**..  ■'"''\'-  „ 

-  '  '      ,-,.  *    - 

■  -  (*■ 

*■  ^ ' .  ■^'•* 

Fig.  42.   Sir  Donald,  head  of  the'  largest  herd  of  bisons  in  America 
Canadian  National  Park,  Banff,  Alberta 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  domesticated  cattle  of  both 
Asia  and  Africa  have  no  lack  of  wild  relatives  both  living  and 
extinct,  and  the  fact  of  their  ultimate  origin  in  the  wild  must  be 
clear  to  the  most  casual  student,  —  so  clear  that  if  the  domes- 
ticated races  should  suddenly  become  extinct,  they,  or  equally 
good  successors,  could  be  readily  restored  from  the  wild. 

However  this  may  be  in  the  western  continent,  all  closely 
related  species  were  extinct  in  America,  if,  indeed,  they  ever 
existed,  long  before  its  discovery  by  the  white  man.  The  bison 
(Bos  america7ius),  popularly  but  erroneously  called  the  buffalo, 
a  close  relative  of  the  European  bison  {Bos  bonus  sits),  was  the 


224        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

only  native  wild  animal  of  the  cattle  kind  known  to  America. 
This  noble  animal  literally  abounded  on  the  western  plains  and 
has  practically  become  extinct  within  the  memory  of  men  still 
young ;  indeed  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  and  its  first  contract 
with  Buffalo  BilP  practically  sealed  the  death  warrant  of  the 
finest  wild  animal  on  the  western  continent. 

This  animal  would  surely  have  been  domesticated  and  made 
into  a  useful  servant,  had  we  not  already  possessed  our  common 
cattle,  making  it  unnecessary  to  begin  over  again ;  just  as  we 
should  have  domesticated  the  prairie  chicken  except  for  the 
hen,  and  just  as  our  forefathers  did  domesticate  the  wild  tur- 
key 2  of  the  New  England  woods. 

The  common  cattle  both  of  this  country  and  Europe  had  an 
undoubted  origin  in  one  or  more  of  the  primitive  races  of  the 
cattle  kind  that  inhabited  that  country  in  the  earliest  times, 
descendants  of  which  are  now  extinct,  except  as  they  have  been 
preserved  by  accidental  inclosure  in  the  hunting  parks  of  certain 
estates  in  England.  In  prehistoric  ages  the  whole  of  Europe 
except  Ireland  was  ranged  over  by  an  immense  wild  animal  of 
the  cattle  kind,  known  to  science  as  B.  primigemis,  or  first  ox. 

Remains  of  this  animal  are  found  in  brick  clays  and  peat 
bogs  in  many  places,  from  the  skulls  of  which  it  is  inferred  that 
the  spread  of  horns  must  have  been  at  least  four  feet.  Some  of 
these  skulls  are  pierced  by  flint  arrowheads,  showing  that  they 
were  hunted  probably  for  food  as  far  back  as  the  paleolithic  or 
oldest  stone  age. 

This  animal  or  its  immediate  descendants  persisted  in  the 
forests  of  Central  Europe  until  comparatively  recent  times.    It 

1  Colonel  William  F.  Cody,  a  noted  hunter  and  Indian  scout,  took  the  con- 
tract to  supply  the  workmen  with  buffalo  meat  during  the  construction  of  this 
road.  Thus  the  bison  literally  gave  his  life  for  the  first  transcontinental  rail- 
road. The  great  numbers  killed  under  this  contract  (69  in  one  day  and  4862 
in  one  year)  earned  for  Mr.  Cody  the  name  of  Huffalo  Bill,  a  name  he  will 
carry  through  life,  and  under  which  he  organized  and  conducted  his  famous 
Wild  West  Show,  exhibiting,  as  this  is  written,  but  a  few  miles  away. 

2  See  section  on  the  turkey. 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  225 

was  hunted  by  Caesar  and  his  followers  under  the  name  of 
aurochs,  or  urus,  as  it  was  called  by  Charlemagne  in  the  ninth 
century.  (It  was  certainly  encountered  by  the  first  crusaders 
and  is  known  to  have  lingered  in  the  neighborhood  of  Worms 
as  late  as  the  twelfth  century.) 

This  was  the  great  European  wild  ox,  and  it  is  from  him  that 
all  our  larger  breeds  of  common  cattle  are  universally  supposed 
to  have  descended.  Contemporaneous  with  him  one  or  more 
smaller  and  more  slender  races  ^  inhabited  the  same  regions, 
especially  toward  the  west.  It  is  from  these  latter  that  the  Jersey 
and  its  nearest  relative,  the  Guernsey,  are  supposed  to  have 
descended,  an  assumption  resting,  of  course,  upon  structural 
considerations  rather  than  upon  direct  historic  evidence. 

A  curious  circumstance  connects  these  ancient  times  with  the 
living  present.  There  are  now  in  the  hunting  parks  of  several 
of  the  great  estates  of  England  herds  of  wild  white  cattle,  notably 
those  at  Chillingham  in  southern  Scotland  and  Chartley  and 
Cadzow  in  northern  England. 

These  herds  are  the  direct  descendants  of  the  original  wild 
cattle  confined  in  these  parks  along  with  other  game  some  eight 
or  nine  hundred  years  ago  and  perhaps  longer  ;  indeed,  authentic 
mention  is  made  of  the  Chillingham  cattle  in  1220,  thus  over- 
lapping the  known  last  days  of  the  aurochs,  with  which  they  are 
supposed  to  be  identical,  though  much  reduced  in  size  by  reason 
of  close  confinement  to  the  northern  limits  of  their  natural  range^ 

All  these  so-called  "  park  cattle  "  or  ''  wild  white  cattle  "  are 
somewhat  smaller  than  the  larger  breeds  of  domestic  cattle  of 
to-day.  They  are  of  a  uniform  dirty  white  color  except  the  ears, 
muzzles,  switch  of  the  tail,  and  the  lower  portions  of  the  legs, 
which  range  from  brown  to  a  brownish  red.  They  are  generally 
horned  and  in  every  way  resemble  common  cattle  except  as  to 

1  These  are  variously  called  Bos  lottgifrons,  Bos  frontosus,  etc.,  from  the 
different  specimens  that  have  been  found  of  these  early  "  deerlike  "  forms  of 
the  cattle  kind.  It  is  significant  that  none  of  these  cattle  are  found  back  of  the 
later  stone  age. 


2  26         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

size,  color,  and  disposition,  which  is  very  wild.  Their  identity 
with  the  ancient  aurochs  is  almost  assured,  leaving  us  to  look 
with  confidence  upon  these  wild  park  cattle  as  the  native  stock 
out  of  which  European  and  especially  English  breeds  have  been 
developed.    As  American  breeds  are  almost  exclusively  English, 


Fig.  43.    Hood  Farm  Pogis  9  of  55552.    A  champion  himself  out  of  a 

champion  sire  and  dam,  and  sire  of  a  champion.    Head  of  Hood  Farm 

herd  of  Jerseys.    Courtesy  of  C.  I.  Hood  &  Co. 

excepting  only  the  Brown  Swiss,  their  lineage  is  fairly  well 
established  as  running  back  to  the  aurochs,  or  B.  primigemcs^ 
through  the  ''  park  cattle  "  ^  of  to-day. 

An  interesting  confirmation  of  this  assumption  occurs  fre- 
quently, especially  among  Devon  cattle,  which  are  known  to  have 
developed  from  the  early  native  cattle  of  southern  England. 

1  See  "  Wild  White  Cattle  of  Great  Britain,"  by  Storer,  for  a  most  fascinating 
account  of  these  interesting  remains  of  earlier  days,  that  would  have  afforded 
richer  relics  had  Europe  possessed  the  inaccessible  highlands  of  southern  Asia 
as  natural  and  safe  retreats  for  these  wild  animals  of  the  cattle  kind. 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS 


227 


These  cattle  are  ordinarily  solid  red  in  color,  but  in  rare  instances 
a  calf  is  dropped  that  is  solid  white  except  its  ears  and  muzzle, 
which  are  invariably  red  or  brown,  closely  resembling  the  modem 
wild  white  cattle  of  the  parks.^ 

The  sheep  {Ovis  aries).  Here  again  domestication  took 
place  so  long  ago  that  its  history  is  lost,  and  no  man  can  say 
what  were  the  precise  species  that  furnished  the  foundation 
for  our  domesticated  forms. 
Certain  it  is  that  wild  ani- 
mals of  the  sheep  kind  are 
and  have  been  common  on 
the  earth  in  nearly  all  moun- 
tain  regions  of  proper 
latitude. 

There  is  no  grander 
specimen  of  the  wild  sheep 
in  all  the  earth  than  the  big- 
horn of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, Ovis  ca7iadensis . 
Standing  three  and  a  half 
feet  high  at  the  withers  (full-grown  males),  with  strong,  well-knit 
legs  supporting  a  muscular  body  covered  with  a  dense  coat  of 
light  brown  hair  fading  to  a  dirty  white  beneath,  carrying  through- 
out a  dense  coat  of  ''shining  white  underwool,"  this  animal  as  a 
whole  is  a  striking  specimen,  even  without  reference  to  the  head, 
which  is,  after  all,  the  distinguishing  feature  of  the  bighorn. 

This  head  is  composed  of  a  massive  skull  supporting  a  pair 
of  truly  immense  horns,  sweeping  upward  and  backward,  then 

1  This  is  "  reversion,"  or  resemblance  to  a  remote  ancestor  rather  than  to 
the  true  parent,  about  which  more  was  said  in  earUer  chapters.  The  same 
thing  happens  in  nearly  all  breeds,  and  it  is  so  common  that  a  visit  to  large 
stockyards  like  those  of  Chicago  rarely  fails  to  find  at  least  one  specimen  of 
this  kind.  Riding  past  a  freight  train  standing  on  a  siding,  not  long  since,  I 
saw  in  bold  relief  among  the  cattle  on  one  of  the  cars  the  characteristic  dirty 
white  face,  upturned  slanting  horns,  and  red  ears  of  the  Chillingham  cattle.  It 
was  an  accidental  product  of  an  Illinois  herd  on  his  way  to  market,  —  mute  wit- 
ness of  a  history  that  is  passing  fast  and  must  soon  be  read  only  in  the  books. 


Fig.  44.    The  Dorset,  an  English  horned 

breed,  nearer  the  bighorn  than  any  other 

domesticated  breed 


2  28        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

forward  and  outward  in  a  graceful  spiral  curve  not  displayed  by 
any  other  animal  known  to  the  wild.  These  horns  have  been 
known  to  measure  thirty-three,  and  in  rare  cases  forty,  inches 
when  measured  along  the  curve,  and  with  a  girth  at  the  skull  of 
no  less  than  fifteen  or  sixteen  inches. 

These  magnificent  animals  choose  their  range  far  up  the  most 
inaccessible  mountain  ledges,  and,  when  surprised,  have  the  most 
marvelous  ability  both  to  clamber  and  to  leap.  They  readily 
leap  thirty  or  forty  feet,  striking  safely  on  the  feet,^  and  a  drop 
down  precipices  of  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
is  said  to  be  well  within  their  ability. 

'Phis  true  wild  sheep  ranges  from  the  mountains  of  Mexico 
to  those  of  Alaska.  Its  flesh  is  said  to  equal  the  best  venison, 
and  it  would  undoubtedly  have  yielded  to  domestication  if  we 
ha(J,p.ot  already  been  well  supplied  with  sheep  when  the  country 
was  discovered. 

On  the  Asiatic  side  the  Kamchatkan  wild  sheep  {Ovis  nivi- 
cold)  closely  resembles  the  bighorn  except  that  he  is  lighter  in 
body  and  limb  and  finer  in  head  and  horn.  As  with  him,  both 
sexes  are  horned.  Off  to  the  southwest  in  northern  Mongolia 
is  the  closely  related  argali  {Ovis  amnion),  and  further  on  in  the 
highlands  of  Tibet  is  a  slightly  different  species,  Ovis  hodgsoni. 
Still  further  to  the  southwest  in  eastern  Turkestan,  and  at  an 
elevation  of  ten  to  twelve  thousand  feet,  is  the  wild  Pamir  sheep 
(Ovis  poli),  the  only  rival  of  the  bighorn.  This  fellow  can 
boast  a  horn  measuring  as  much  as  sixty  inches,  but  without  the 
magnificent  curve  of  the  bighorn,  as  it  stands  out  somewhat  at 
the  side,  that  is,  has  a  greater  spread.  The  mountain  regions 
of  southern  Asia  are  well  supplied  with  sheeplike  animals,  too 
numerous  in  their  species  even  to  be  enumerated  here. 

Off  to  the  west  we  have  the  Armenian  sheep  {Ovis  gmelini), 
in  the  islands  of  the  Mediterranean  the  Cyprian  {Ovis  ophion)^ 
and  further  west,  in  Corsica  and  Sardinia,  the  Mouflon  {Ovis 

1  It  is  asserted,  but  upon  questionable  authority,  that  a  favorite  habit  of  the 
bighorn  when  he  doubts  his  legs  is  to  light  upon  his  head. 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS 


229 


musinion).  These  are  all  horned  sheep  from  which  such  a  breed 
as  the  Merino  might  have  descended  with  no  more  change  than 
is  often  effected  in  domestication. 

From  these  wild  types  the  species  shade  off  into  the  blue 
sheep  of  Tibet  and  the  Barbary  sheep,  with  its  wealth  of  long 
hair  on  its  throat  and  legs,  and  its  horselike  tail,  but  standing 
between  the  sheep  and  the  goat,  as  the  musk  ox  stands  between 


Fig.  45.    Domestication  complete.    A  wild  mountain  animal  brought  to  the 
lowlands  and  ready  to  follow  the  call  of  man 


the  cattle  and  the  sheep.  From  here  on  are  a  sheer  multitude 
of  more  or  less  distantly  related  species,  —  goats,  ibex,  markhor, 
tahr,  nilgiri,  goral,  serow,  chamois,  eland,  kudu,  antelope,  nyl- 
ghau, gemsbok,  gazelle,  springbok,  puku,  klipspringer,  llama, 
alpaca,  and  scores  of  others  down  to  the  gnu,  or  wild  beast  with 
the  horn  of  a  musk  ox,  the  head  and  mane  of  a  bison,  the  tail 
of  a  horse,  and  body  and  legs  midway  between  the  horse  and 
the  cow. 


230        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

It  cannot  fail  to  occur  to  the  reader  that  the  wild  and  inacces- 
sible mountain  regions  and  high  plateaus  of  central  and  southern 
Asia  have  afforded  a  unique  retreat  for  multitudes  of  the  wild 
relatives  of  the  larger  of  our  domestic  animals/  and  that  to  a 
similar  but  less  extent  the  mountain  regions  of  Africa  and  of 
western  America,  both  to  the  north  and  the  south,  have  served 
the  same  significant  purpose. 

The  domestic  sheep  are,  roughly  speaking,  of  four  distinct 
classes :  first,  the  horned  varieties  like  the  Merino  and  the  Dor- 
set, resembling  most  closely  the  nearest  wild  relatives  ;  second, 
the  common  hornless  and  coarse-wooled  breeds  of  England  and 
America,  such  as  the  Shropshire,  Lincoln,  Cotswold,  Leicester, 
and  Southdown  ;  third,  the  so-called  fat-tailed  sheep  of  south- 
western Asia  and  northeastern  Africa,  in  some  strains  of  which 
the  tail  often  reaches  a  weight  of  forty  or  fifty  pounds  and  drags 
upon  the  ground,  while  in  others,  with  shorter  tails,  the  enormous 
amount  of  fat  occurs  in  the  rump ;  ^  fourth,  a  minor  strain  be- 
longing to  Iceland  and  remarkable  for  the  fact  that,  like  the 
Cyprian  wild  sheep,  its  horns  are  not  limited  to  two,  but,  ac- 
cording to  Youatt,  may  be  three  or  any  other  number,  odd  or 
even,  up  to  as  many  as  eight. 

It  must  be  clear  to  the  student  that  there  is  no  dearth  of 
evidence  in  nature  for  the  domestication  of  sheep,  and  that,  even 
yet,  should  all  our  common  breeds  be  lost,  they  could  be  sub- 
stantially restored  from  new  material  out  of  the  truly  wild.  The 
greatest  change  made   in   domestication  would  seem  to  have 

1  It  is  difficult  to  realize  that  this  "  roof  of  the  world"  —  this  high  and  broken 
interior  with  its  forbidding  mountainous  southern  wall,  in  most  places  almost 
uninhabitable  by  man  and  hence  practically  given  over  to  the  wild  —  is  not  a 
small  area,  but  rather  a  region  of  vast  extent,  not  less  than  two  thousand  miles 
across.  When  this  is  fully  realized  it  will  not  seem  so  strange  that  almost 
everything  traces  to  a  wild  counterpart  in  "  central  Asia."  It  is  the  great  left- 
over and  uncivilized  part  of  the  world. 

2  This  fat  is  exceedingly  soft,  more  like  marrow  than  tallow,  and  is  often 
spread  directly  oh  bread  and  eaten  as  butter.  It  is  the  skins  of  the  young 
lambs  of  these  sheep  that  constitute  the  astrakhan  of  commerce,  and  it  is  their 
intestines  from  which  the  Germans  make  the  so-called  catgut  for  the  violin 
and  other  small  stringed  instruments. 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  23 1 

been  in  the  length  of  staple  and  fineness  in  fiber  of  the  wool, 
and  probably  in  the  accumulation  of  fat,  for  no  wild  sheep  is 
known  that  has  the  fat-secreting  habit  of  the  fat-tailed  breeds ; 
indeed,  most  of  the  wild  species  are  extremely  short-tailed. 

The  goat.  This  near  relative  of  the  sheep  has  been  domesti- 
cated from  the  earliest  times,  and  his  wild  relatives  are  yet 
abundant  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  particularly  from  the 
Pyrenees  of  Spain  eastward  to  the  great  central  plateau  of  Asia. 
The  Angora,  which  is  native  to  Asia  Minor  and  is  noted  for  its 
beautiful  fleece  ;  the  Kashmir  of  Bokhara  and  Tibet,  which  is 
the  source  of  the  famous  cashmere  shawls  ;  the  Syrian  goat  of 
southwestern  Asia  ;  the  Sudan  goat  of  northern  Africa ;  and 
the  Egyptian  goat  of  Egypt,  from  the  lower  Nile  to  its  native 
hills  in  Nubia,  —  these  are  the  principal  races  of  interest  from 
the  standpoint  of  usefulness  and  domestication, 
y-  The  pig.  As  with  the  sheep  so  with  the  pig ;  almost  every 
region  of  the  earth  has  its  native  species,  no  less  than  a  score 
of  which  are  well  known  and  fully  described  by  naturalists. 

The  peccary  is  the  wild  pig  of  Central  and  South  America, 
though  he  is  one  of  the  farthest  removed  of  the  wild  relatives 
in  having  not  the  simple  stomach  of  the  true  pig  but  a  complex 
digestive  apparatus  something  like  the  ruminants.  The  common 
pig  certainly  does  not  trace  directly  to  the  peccary,  which,  how- 
ever, would  have  afforded  material  suitable  for  domestication 
had  it  not  been  rendered  unnecessary  by  the  better  forms 
already  in  our  possession.  \ 

The  great  wild  ancestor\^  our  common  pig  exists  in  two 
well-marked  species,  the  European  wild  boar  (S7fs  scrofa)  and 
the  Indian  wild  boar  {Siis  cristatus). 

The  European  species  originally  ranged  over  all  Europe, 
northern  Africa,  and  central  and  western  Asia  as  far  even  as 
Mesopotamia  and  Beluchistan.  It  is  now  extinct  in  most  of  its 
former  stamping  grounds,  but  yet  lingers  in  some  of  the  forests 
of  Germany  where  the  boar  hunt  is  a  favorite  form  of  amuse- 
ment.   The  blood  of  this  species  has  been  freely  employed  in 


2  32         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

the  development  of  the  larger  English  breeds,  such  as  the  York- 
shire, the  Tamworth,  and  the  Berkshire,  the  latter  so  largely 
represented  in  that  truly  American  breed,  the  Poland  China. 

The  Indian  wild  boar  is  closely  related  and  very  similar  to 
the  European.  He  runs  a  little  larger,  standing  often  as  high 
as  forty  inches  at  the  shoulders.  Like  his  European  cousin  he 
is  a  dangerous  enemy  and  does  not  hesitate,  when  pursued,  to 
attack  whatever  appears,  —  men,  horses,  elephants,  or  even  tigers. 
Boar  hunting,  as  it  is  called  in  Europe,  and  "  pig  sticking,"  as 
the  term  goes  in  India,  are  therefore  counted  specially  fine 
sports  for  the  hunter. 

Both  these  species  inhabit  the  forests  of  the  lower  lands  and 
both  cover  extensive  stretches  of  country.  Their  food  is  varied, 
ranging  from  grass  roots  and  worms,  which  they  dig  from  the 
ground  with  their  serviceable  rooters,  to  small  animals,  especially 
snakes,  against  which  they  seem  to  hold  a  special  grudge,  and 
which  they  are  peculiarly  skillful  in  killing  by  jumping  and 
lighting  with  all  four  feet  on  the  tail,  ripping  up  the  creature 
into  "  shoe  strings  "  with  their  enormous  tusks,  which  are  the 
prolonged  incisor  teeth. 

Besides  the  Indian  wild  boar  southeastern  Asia  affords  a 
large  number  of  closely  related  but  smaller  races.  There  are  no 
less  than  a  half  dozen  of  these  well-marked  species  in  the  Malay 
Peninsula  alone,  besides  the  curious  little  pigmy  hog  {S?is  sal- 
vaniiis)  of  the  Himalayan  foothills,  standing  only  ten  or  eleven 
inches  at  the  shoulders.  Still  again  there  is  the  masked  pig  of 
Japan,  with  its  heavy  folds  of  skin  about  the  face  and  its  immense 
drooping  ears. 

PYom  some  or  several  of  these  Asiatic  species  domesticated 
races  were  doubtless  developed  long  ago.  Certain  it  is  that 
domesticated  pigs  were  known  in  China  before  they  were  in 
Europe,  and  that  much  of  the  blood  of  modern  domestic  swine 
came  originally  from  this  stock,  and  would  be  traceable,  if  we 
knew  the  history,  to  some  of  these  native  races  or  their  extinct 
relatives,  of  which  there  are  many,  ranging  from  a  giant  form 


ORIGIN   OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  233 

about  the  size  of  a  common  mule  down  to  one  not  much  larger 
than  the  modern  pigmy  hog  of  India.  Evidently  the  hog  tribe 
has  been  a  long  time  with  us  and  has  seen,  as  it  is  now  seeing, 
exceedingly  prosperous  days. 

Besides  these  already  mentioned,  Asia  affords  another  notable 
species,  the  babiroussa,  a  little  further  removed  from  the  true 
pig,  as  he  has  a  pair  of  tusks  rising  from  his  nose  and  midway 
between  his  snout  and  his  eyes.  He  is,  however,  essentially  a 
wild  pig,  and  in  his  natural  habitat,  the  lowlands  of  Celebes,  he 
is  found  both  wild  and  domesticated. 

Africa  affords  a  goodly  number  of  wild  relatives,  notably  the 
gray  bush  pig  {S?is  africamis)  of  the  south-central  regions  and 
the  little  red  bush  pig  or  river  hog  {Sns  porais)  of  the  west- 
ern lowlands.  Aside  from  these  true  pigs  there  are  several 
species  of  the  so-called  wart  hogs,  ugly  specimens  with  immense 
heads  and  broad  noses  crowned  with  vicious  tusks,  deriving 
their  name  from  three  hornlike  "  warts  "  that  develop  on  the 
side  of  the  face  just  below  the  eyes. 

Altogether  the  pig  is  not  at  all  wanting  in  relatives  of  the 
woods,  even  without  going  to  the  more  remote  connections  such 
as  the  rhinoceros,  the  hippopotamus,  or  the  elephant.  Of  all  our 
domesticated  animals  none  are  more  readily  traced  to  the  wild  and 
none  more  quickly  or  more  thoroughly  revert  to  the  feral  state. 
The  pig  in  domestication  is  generally  quiet  and  harmless,  but  he 
is  capable  of  a  good  fight,  and  in  the  semiwild  state  a  drove  of 
hogs  is  an  enemy  more  dangerous  than  most  wild  animals. 

Quite  contrary  to  popular  opinion,  the  pig  is  among  the 
cleanest  of  our  domestic  animals.  Like  the  buffalo  he  seeks 
the  water,  or  mud  in  absence  of  water,  as  a  protection  against 
the  heat  of  the  sun.  Having  no  sweat  glands,  he  gets  no  relief 
by  evaporation  from  his  own  body,  and  his  resort  to  the  cooling 
effects  of  water  is  not  only  natural  but  necessary. 

The  cat  {Felis  catus).  Here  again  domestication  is  lost  in 
antiquity,  but  the  origin  is  not  difficult  to  trace.  Wild  catlike 
animals  are  common  in  the  world,  and  nowhere  more  common 


234        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

than  in  North  America,  where  the  wild  cat  and  lynx  inhabited 
the  primeval  forests  in  more  or  less  abundance.  Indeed,  the 
domestic  cat  possesses  a  wide  range  of  wild  congeners  the  world 
over,  beginning  with  the  tiger  and  the  lion  and  shading  off, 
through  the  jaguar,  the  leopard,  and  the  puma,  to  its  nearer 
relatives,  the  marbled  cat  {Felis  marmorata)  of  the  eastern 
Himalayas  and  Burma ;  the  golden  cat  {Felis  temmineki)  of 
northern  India,  Tibet,  and  the  Malay  Peninsula ;  the  fishing 
cat  {Felis  viverrind)  of  India;  the  spotted  leopard  cat  {Felis  ben- 
galensis),  and  a  great  number  and  variety  of  similar  species  be- 


FiG.  46.  The  European  and  the  American  wild  cats  respectively.  Clearly  our 
domesticated  cat  is  more  closely  related  to  the  former 

longing  to  the  same  general  region.  Besides  these  there  are  the 
yellowish-gray  Caff  re  or  Egyptian  cat  {Felis  caffraY,  from  which 
the  European  species,  which  he  greatly  resembles,  has  doubtless 
sprung ;  the  common  wild  cat  {Felis  eatus),  which  has  inhabited 
England  since  the  days  of  the  mammoth,  and  at  one  time  cov- 
ered all  Europe  except  the  southern  portion ;  the  pampas  cat 
of  South  America,  the  jungle  cat  of  India,  and  so  on  into  the 
lynxes,  the  hunting  leopard,  and  other  more  distant  relatives. 

All  wild  animals  of  the  cat  kind  are  universally  hated  by 
hunters  because  of  their  stealth  and  innate  savagery,  for,  whether 
tiger  or  leopard,  panther,  puma,  jaguar,  lynx,  or  wild  cat,  they 

1  Also  called  Felis  caligata  and  Felis  manicitlata. 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS 


235 


are  the  most  terrible  of  all  wild  animals.  It  is  also  an  open 
question  if  the  domestic  cat  has  not  lost  his  usefulness  long 
ago,  if,  indeed,  he  ever  had  any.  He  never  was  but  half- 
domesticated  at  best,  and  while  he  is  a  universal  favorite  with 
children  because  of  his  furry  coat  and  look  of  seeming  intelli- 
gence, he  is  yet  essentially  a  wild  animal,  almost  incapable  of 
true  domestication.  He  has  lost  little  of  his  innate  savagery, 
and  as  a  relentless  foe  of  birds  he  has  really  become  an  enemy 
to  our  civilization.  The  sooner  he  could  become  extinct  the 
better  for  our  song  birds  on  which  we  depend  so  much  not  only 
for  our  pleasure  but  for  protection  against  the  depredations  of 
insects.  The  true  nature  of  the  cat  should  be  more  commonly 
understood  in  this  respect,  as  well  as  its  proclivity  to  throat  dis- 
eases common  to  children.  We  can  well  afford  to  do  without 
the  cat. 

Domesticated  Birds 

The  domestication  of  birds  ^  was  a  great  achievement,  whether 
viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  its  inherent  difficulty,  the  quality 
and  cheapness  of  their  meat 
and  eggs,  or  the  utility  of 
their  feathers.  All  told,  the 
domesticated  birds  cover 
many  species,  with  scores  of 
wild  relatives  in  all  parts  of 
the  world.  Most  of  them 
being,  in  the  wild  state, 
good  flyers,  their  distribution 
is  much  wider  than  is  that  of 
species  more  closely  confined 
to  locomotion  on  the  ground. 
"*  The  hen.  Of  all  the  birds 
domesticated  none  is  more  valuable  than  the  chicken  {Galhis 
domesticiis),  whose  undoubted  progenitor,  Gallns  bankivus,  can 
yet  be  heard  cackling  in  the  forests  of  Farther  India ;   all  of 

1  See  Darwin's  "Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,"  Vol.  I,  p.  236. 


Fig.  47..  A  trio  of  prize-winning  barred 

Plymouth    Rocks,    property  of    Bradley 

Bros.,  Lee,  Massachusetts 


236        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

which  suggests  the  fact  that,  as  in  many  similar  cases,  we  owe 
a  lasting  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  ancient  people  of  that  far-off 
country  for  thus  bringing  into  our  service  one  of  the  most  wary 
of  all  the  wild  birds,  and  making  of  it  one  of  the  most  valuable 
of  the  domesticated  races. 

Its  nearest  relatives  are  the  pheasants,  and  many  exceedingly 
closely  related  species  are  found  wild  in  widely  scattered  regions 
of  the  East,  their  favorite  haunts  being  the  forests  of  Farther 
India.  The  prairie  chicken  of  the  West,  though  a  true  grouse, 
is,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  the  American  equivalent  of  this 
Asiatic  product,  and,  had  it  been  necessary,  would  have  afforded 
material  for  a  valuable  domestic  bird. 

■  The  goose.  The  wild  goose  yet  lingers  in  many  parts  of  the 
world,  notably  the  gray  lag  goose  {Anser  cinerciis),  nesting 
in  the  northern  British  Islands,  —  the  probable  parent  of  the 
domesticated  goose.  Its  American  equivalent  is  represented  by 
no  less  than  three  well-defined  species,  the  snow  goose  of  the 
far  north  (Afiser  hypei'boreiis),  the  smaller  Ross's  goose  of 
the  northwest  and  the  blue-winged  goose  (Ajiser  rcrr?i/esceHs), 
whose  feeding  and  breeding  places  are  along  the  great  lakes  of 
northern  United  States  and  Canada.  Besides  these  there  are 
many  closely  related  species  ;  indeed,  they  breed  everywhere  in 
the  subarctic  regions. 

Here,  again,  it  was  a  foreign  strain  that  furnished  the  material 
for  domestication,  because  the  goose  is  an  old-time  favorite ; 
indeed,  it  is  probable  that  he  has  already  passed  his  period  of 
greatness  among  us.  He  has  always  been  prized  for  his  feathers, 
but  cannot  be  regarded  as  the  equal  of  either  the  chicken,  the 
turkey,  or  even  the  duck  as  a  table  delicacy. 

The  duck.  Here  again  the  wild  form  is  common,  indeed  so 
common  as  to  be  a  favorite  game  bird.  Of  the  numerous  species 
the  beautiful  mallard  (Anas  boscas)  is  the  typical  game  duck 
and  is  regarded  as  the  parent  and  progenitor  of  the  domesticated 
form.  This  species  is  said  to  inhabit  the  whole  of  the  western 
hemisphere,  wherever  suitable  feeding  grounds  can  be  found 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  237 

between  the  arctic  circle  and  the  tropics.  He  is  a  truly  cosmo- 
politan bird^  and  it  is  not  strange  that  many  varieties  and  sub- 
species should  have  developed  as  the  result  of  his  widespread 
range  and  varied  environment.  Domestication  of  the  duck  is  easy 
and  has  undoubtedly  been  accomplished  many  times.  More  than 
one  hen  has  hatched  a  brood  of  wild  duck's  eggs,  after  which  a 
timely  clipping  of  the  wings  insured  a  flock  of  tame  ducks. 
^  The  turkey.  Here  at  last  we  come  to  a  truly  American  bird, 
more  fitting  by  far  than  the  eagle  to  stand  as  the  emblem 
of  America. 

When  our  Puritan  ancestors  landed  on  the  forbidding  shores 
of  New  England,  they  found  the  woods  alive  with  a  strange 
wild  bird,  wary  and  fleet  both  of  foot  and  wing,  but  most  ex- 
cellent eating  and  easily  tamed. 

This  native  of  the  New  World  not  only  helped  out  in  the 
"terrible  winters,"  when  food  was  scarce  with  the  colonists,  but 
he  remained  in  domestication  to  grace  the  tables  of  comfort, 
and  to-day  the  Thanksgiving  turkey  is  everywhere  the  symbol 
of  plenty. 

Of  the  four  contributions  of  the  New  World  to  domesticated 
species,  namely  corn,  tobacco,  the  potato,  and  the  turkey,  the 
latter  is  the  only  animal,  and  he  clearly  outranks  any  other  food 
bird  that  has  ever  been  domesticated.  Of  this  contribution  to  our 
civilization  America  may  well  be  proud,  especially  as  no  similar 
species  has  ever  been  discovered  elsewhere  on  earth,  save  only 
the  related  brush  turkey  of  Australia  and  the  outlying  islands. 

The  American  turkey  exists  wild  in  no  less  than  three  distinct 
species  :  Meleagris  americana,  the  parent  of  the  black  turkey 
of  the  eastern  United  States  ;  Meleagris  gallopavo,  of  northern 
Mexico,  parent  of  the  bronze  strains  ;  and  the  beautiful  Melea- 
gris ocellata  of  Guatemala,  Yucatan,  and  British  Honduras, 
described  as  radiant,  with  its  "  gfeenish-blue  eyespot  shot  with 
purple,  while  the  metallic  parts  of  the  body  feathers  are  golden 
or  bronze  green  and  the  naked  head  and  neck  blue,  covered 
with  red  warts." 


238        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

The  peacock.  History  shows  this  bird  to  have  been  an  ancient 
table  favorite  in  the  Far  East,  but  he  has  passed  his  period  of 
favor  and  is  now  relegated  to  a  back-yard  ornament,  if,  indeed, 
he  rises  much  above  the  level  of  a  curiosity. 

The  peafowl,  which  is  really  one  of  the  most  gorgeous  of 
pheasants,  still  dwells  in  the  wild  state  in  northern  India  and 
southeastern  Asia,  the  most  common  species  of  India,  Pavo 
cristatus,  being  closest  to  the  domesticated  race.  Among  his* 
nearest  relatives,  structurally  as  well  as  geographically,  are  the 
peacock  pheasants  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  extending  even  to 
the  island  of  Borneo.  The  beautiful  Argus  pheasant  has  the 
eyespots  in  the  wing  rather  than  the  tail,  as  in  the  true  pheas- 
ant, and  accordingly  it  is  the  wing  that  is  displayed. 

The  swan.'  This  bird,  too,  was  anciently  used  for  food,  but 
is  now  seen  only  as  an  ornament  in  public  and  private  lakes 
and  ponds.  The  original  abounds  in  nearly  all  the  northern 
waters  of  the  world,  and  ranges  from  pure  white  to  solid  black. 

The  guinea  fowl.  This  noisy  little  hen  is  hardly  worthy  of 
being  ranked  as  a  domesticated  fowl.  The  guinea  is  really  an 
African  pheasant,  of  which  several  distinct  and  widely  different 
species  are  found  wild  along  the  western  coast,  from  Liberia 
southward.  It  is  rarely  kept  in  numbers,  but  a  few  are  often 
found  with  other  poultry,  "  to  scare  off  the  hawks." 

Additional  Races  and  Semidomestication 

Besides  these  animals  with  which  we  are  best  acquainted  other 
species  have  been  wholly  or  partially  domesticated,  either  by  our- 
selves or  by  other  people,  either  in  our  own  or  other  countries. 

As  the  buffalo  replaces  our  common  cattle  for  labor  in  certain 
humid  regions,  so  the  elephant  is  extensively  employed  wher- 
ever he  is  found  native,  as  in  Asia  and  Africa.  The  camel  is, 
and  always  will  be,  the  ship  of  the  desert. 

The  llama  and  the  alpaca  of  the  Andean  plateau  —  the  one 
to  bear  burdens,  the  other  for  its  fleece  —  are  both  well  known 


ORIGIN  OF  DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  239 

and  only  half-domesticated,  as  are  the  reindeer  of  the  arctic 
regions  and  the  ostrich  of  the  desert. 

A  few  strange  cases  of  semidomestication  can  be  mentioned, 
such  as  the  cheetah,  or  hunting  leopard,  the  falcon,  or  hunting 
hawk,  and  the  quite  general  utilization  of  certain  breeds  of 
snakes  in  the  tropics  to  rid  the  houses  of  vermin.  To  this  can 
be  added  the  fact  that  we  occasionally  employ  the  weasel  to 
hunt  out  and  destroy  rats,  as  the  Romans  used  the  marten  in 
place  of  the  cat  to  hunt  mice. 

Besides  these  might  be  mentioned  a  small  multitude  of  pets, 
representing  nearly  all  species  of  wild  animals,  almost  any  of 
which  may  be  tamed  if  taken  when  young,  and  most  of  which 
have  been  so  treated  not  once  but  many  times  since  their  con- 
tact with  the  human  race. 

And  so  the  list  might  be  extended  almost  indefinitely,  were 
the  space  available,  to  show  fully  how  man  has  put  to  his  own 
uses  the  wild  animals  of  forest,  lake,  and  plain  during  his  long 
history  on  earth  and  his  determined  campaign  to  enslave  them 
and  bring  them,  so  far  as  possible,  into  his  service. 

Unwelcome  domestication.  Certain  species  have  volunteered 
to  infest  the  habitations  of  man,  attracted  mostly  by  a  liberal 
food  supply.  Among  these  would  be  mentioned  the  rat  and  the 
mouse,  which  are  world-wide,  both  as  house  and  as  wild  species. 
The  house  fly  is  another  pest  that,  together  with  the  rat  and 
the  mouse,  is  coming  to  be  recognized  not  only  as  a  common 
nuisance,  but  also  as  a  fruitful  carrier  of  infectious  diseases. 

Besides  these,  a  great  variety  of  insect  pests  especially  haunt 
the  habitations  of  man  because  there  they  find  abundant  food 
supply  and  favorable  conditions  of  life  generally. 

Exercises.  1.  Extend  the  study  of  particular  species  and  follow  out  the 
wild  connections,  relatives,  habitat,  and  habits  further  than  in  the  text,  em- 
ploying for  this  purpose  the  facts  of  zoology  and  all  the  information  avail- 
able in  histories,  encyclopedias,  and  books  of  travel. 

2.  Secure  information  about  the  uses  to  which  the  less-known  domes- 
ticated animals  are  put,  using  again  all  available  sources  of  information. 


240        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

3.  Write  compositions  showing  the  extent  to  which  any  particular  species, 
as  the  horse  or  the  sheep,  has  been  helpful  in  the  advancement  of  our 
civilization,  and  how  we  should  have  been  hampered  had  we  been  obliged 
to  get  on  without  him. 

4.  Write  an  account  of  your  personal  experience  in  taming  some  wild 
animal  for  a  pet. 

5.  Write  an  account  of  your  personal  experience  in  training  some  young 
domestic  animal  as  a  pet  or  for  work. 

6.  Point  out  in  domestic  animals  some  habit  or  trait  that  it  has  brought 
down  from  the  wild,  such  as  the  pawing  of  snow  by  horses  and  sheep  to  get 
at  the  grass  beneath. 

References.  1.  "Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication"  (Vol.  I, 
chaps,  i-viii,  inclusive).     Darwin. 

2.  "The  Breeds  of  Domestic  Animals."    Plumb. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 
ORIGIN  OF  CULTIVATED  GRAINS  AND  GRASSES  i 

Cultivated  plants,  like  domesticated  animals,  originated  in  the  wild  •  The 

grasses  •  Wheat  •  Barley  •  Indian    corn  •  Oats  •  Rye  •  Rice  •  Sorghum  •  Sugar 

cane  •  Millet  •  Buckwheat  •  Timothy  •  Blue    grass  •  Redtop  •  Orchard    grass  • 

The  Festucas  •  Miscellaneous  grasses 

Cultivated  plants,  like  domesticated  animals,  originated  in 
the  wild.  The  succeeding  chapter  will  show  briefly  how  it  was 
that  the  choicest  plants,  like  the  most  useful  animals,  came  to  be 
appropriated  by  man,  —  taken  out  of  their  wild  surroundings  and 
more  or  less  completely  domesticated.  The  present  chapter  will 
deal  with  a  few  of  the  more  important  of  the  cultivated  plants, 
some  of  which  are  not  yet  fully  domesticated. 

By  far  the  most  useful  of  all  plants  is  the  so-called  grass 
family,  used  for  grain,  forage,  and  pasture.  Botanically  the 
grasses  are  distinguished  by  narrow,  parallel-veined  leaves  on  a 
jointed  hollow  stem  bearing  seeds  on  a  more  or  less  compact 
spike  at  the  top,  like  timothy  and  wheat,  or,  occasionally,  at  one 
of  the  joints  midway  up  the  stem,  as  in  Indian  corn.  These 
plants  are  valuable,  first,  for  their  seeds,  which  are  numerous  and 
large  and  distinguished  for  their  starch  content,  and  sometimes, 
as  in  corn,  for  their  oil.  They  are  also  valuable  for  forage  be- 
cause the  immature  stem  and  leaf  when  cured  are  eaten  greedily 
by  nearly  all  domesticated  animals.^  Besides  this,  many  of  the 
smaller  species,  like  blue  grass  and  the  so-called  buffalo  grasses 

1  See  Darwin's  ''Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,"  Vol.  I,  chaps,  ix, 
X,  and  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  by  Alphonse  de  Candolle,  for  additional 
information  about  cultivated  species.  The  latter  volume  has  been  freely  drawn 
upon  for  material  in  the  present  chapter. 

2  Contrary  to  common  belief,  the  pig  likes  hay,  but  he  vastly  prefers  clover 
or  alfalfa  to  timothy  or  any  of  the  grasses.    See  under  Leguminous  Plants. 

241 


242         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

of  the  prairie,  are  excellent  pasture  ;  indeed,  most  pastures,  culti- 
vated or  native,  consist  largely  of  true  grasses  with  a  more  or 
less  slight  admixture  of  legumes. 

Many  of  the  true  grasses  are  entirely  unsuited  to  the  uses  of 
man.  The  seeds  are  too  few  or  too  small  for  grain,  or  the  stems 
too  coarse,  too  harsh,  or  too  small  for  either  hay  or  pasture.  Of 
course  such  species  have  never  been  domesticated  ;  indeed,  but 
a  small  proportion  are  suited  to  our  use,  as  we  fully  realize  when 
we  remember  that  the  grass  family  numbers  more  species  than 
any  other  known  to  botany. 

Wheat.  This  widespread  species  is  the  greatest  single  food 
for  man,  and  was,  without  doubt,  one  of  the  very  first  plants  to 
be  brought  out  of  the  wild  and  cultivated,  as  it  certainly  has 
been  from  the  greatest  antiquity.  A  small-grained  variety  has 
been  discovered  among  the  remains  of  the  lake  dwellers 
of  Switzerland,  dating  from  the  early  stone  age  of  Europe  — 
contemporaneous  certainly  with  the  Trojan  War  about  1200  b.c, 
and  perhaps  much  earlier.  The  same  kind  of  grain  has  been 
found  in  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  dating  back  more  than  three 
thousand  years  before  Christ,  and  the  Chinese  are  known  to 
have  cultivated  this  ''  gift  direct  from  Heaven  "  fully  as  early 
as  2700  B.C. 

Names  for  wheat  are  various  and  widespread  in  many  lan- 
guages, showing  again,  and  on  philological  grounds,  that  its 
cultivation  dates  from  antiquity.  The  Egyptians  called  it  br ; 
the  Hebrews,  chittah;  the  Chinese,  mai ;  in  Sanskrit  it  was 
sumaita  and  godhuma;  and  in  Basque,  okJiaya}  All  this  was 
so  long  ago  that  it  is  now  impossible  to  trace  our  wheat  back 
to  its  original  wild  form.  Though  it  covers  nearly  all  the  culti- 
vated lands  of  the  world  and  exists  in  many  varieties  both  red 
and  white,  bearded  and  plain,  there  is  growing  nowhere  on 
earth  any  known  plant  sufficiently  near  to  wheat  to  be  regarded 
with  certainty  as  the  original.  Wheat  exists  now  in  four  well- 
marked  species  : 

1  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  p.  356.  ^ 


CULTIVATED  GRAINS  AND  GRASSES  243 

1 .  Triticum  vidgare,  the  common  wheat  as  we  know  it,  both 
bearded  and  plain,  red  and  white,  winter  and  spring,  a  type  that 
is  very  ancient. 

2.  Triticum  ticrgidum,  or  Triticum  compositum  as  it  is  some- 
times called, — a  branching-headed  race  passing  by  the  common 
names  of  Egyptian  wheat,  wheat  of  miracle,  or  wheat  of  abun- 
dance ;  not  of  great  antiquity,  because  old  remains  are  not  found 
and  no  name  exists  for  it  in  either  Sanskrit,  Indian,  or  Persian. 

3.  Triticum  durum,  or  hard  wheat,  growing  plentifully  in 
southern  Europe  under  many  names,  none  of  which  trace  to 
ancient  origin,  nor  are  its  remains  discovered  in  antiquity,  leav- 
ing the  inference  that  it  was  derived  from  the  common  wheat, 
T.  vulgare,  and  at  a  not  distant  date. 

4.  Triticum  polonicum,  or  Polish  wheat,  cultivated  in  the  east 
of  Europe.  Its  original  German  name  is  gummer,  and  its  other 
names  are  individual  or  local,  not  connected  with  antiquity. 

None  of  these  races  is  known  to  grow  wild  anywhere  on  earth ; 
indeed,  they  would  not  thrive  as  feral  races,  for  wheat  cannot 
long  maintain  itself  against  weeds  and  the  more  vigorous  wild 
competitors.! 

Besides  the  true  wheats  there  are  three  closely  related  species 
that  may  well  engage  our  attention  in  this  connection.  These 
are  the  common  spelt  {Triticum  speltd),  the  one-grained  wheat 
{Triticum  monococcum),  and  the  two-grained  or  starch  wheat 
(Triticum,  dicoccunt),  the  "  emmer  "  of  our  own  day. 

The  spelts  stand  to  wheat  much  as  the  so-called  husk  corn 
does  to  common  maize  ;  that  is,  each  kernel  is  enveloped  in  a 
tight-fitting  husk  or  chaff  of  its  own,  like  oats  or  rice.  All  these 
species  were  cultivated  by  the  lake  dwellers  of  Switzerland,  and 
common  names  for  these  wheatlike  grains  abound,  but  they  all 
trace  to  southern  European  or  western  Asiatic  sources. 

None  of  these  species  is  positively  known  to  be  growing  wild, 
although  different  observers  have  asserted  the  finding  of  each. 

1  This  has  been  tried  at  Rothamsted,  and  a  wheat  field  left  to  itself  was  soon 
entirely  overrun  by  weeds. 


244        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

The  one  most  frequently  claimed  as  a  wildling  is  the  mono- 
coccum,  but  this  is  best  fitted  of  all  the  wheats  to  maintain  itself 
in  the  wild  state,  as  it  thrives  in  the  most  forbidding  land. 

There  is  much  reason  also  to  consider  this  one-grained  species 
as  the  most  primitive  of  all  the  races,  and  the  one  that  is  prob- 
ably nearest  the  original  wild  plants  from  which  our  wheats  have 
been  developed  by  countless  generations  of  cultivation. 

Some  authorities  are  inclined  to  consider  the  spelts  as  having 
been  derived  from  the  true  wheats  by  breeding,  but  that  is 
hardly  likely.  The  common  facts  of  evolution,  as  we  know 
them,  now  indicate  that  it  is  easier  for  a  species  to  change  by 
the  loss  of  a  character  than  by  the  acquisition  of  a  new  part.^ 
This  accords,  too,  with  the  well-known  fact  that  the  so-called 
husk  corn,  when  planted,  will  give  a  considerable  proportion  of 
corn  with  naked  kernels.^ 

While  true  wheat  is  nowhere  growing  wild,  we  may  confi- 
dently regard  the  spelts,  especially  T.  monococcnm,  as  repre- 
senting a  primitive  stock,  lost  so  far  as  botanists  go,  or  else 
unrecognizable  because  of  great  change  in  either  the  domesti- 
cated or  the  wild  species  or  in  both.  Facts  both  botanical  and 
philological,  however,  point  to  southeastern  Europe  and  western 
Asia  as  the  general  region  in  which  wheat  was  developed,  some 
authorities  confidently  regarding  Mesopotamia  as  the  undoubted 
original  home. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  doubt  three  facts  are  clear  :  first,  wheat 
as  we  know  it  does  not  grow  wild  ;  second,  it  has  been  cultivated 
in  substantially  its  present  form  for  at  least  five  or  six  thousand 
years,  and  probably  in  some  form  from  the  remotest  antiquity  ; 
third,  it  does  not  readily  maintain  itself  in  the  wild,  so  that  it 
has  either  changed  greatly  or  else  its  wild  progenitor  has  been 
greatly  altered  or  never  did  exist  outside  some  remote  and 
restricted  area. 

1  See  chapter  on  Mutation. 

*  Candolle  mentions  that  one  sowing  gave  225  ears  of  husk  corn  and  105 
of  the  common  form  ("  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  p.  394). 


CULTIVATED  GRAINS  AND  GRASSES  245 

Totally  aside  from  all  this,  however,  the  student  should  under- 
stand that  there  are  still  growing  wild  a  number  of  closely  allied 
species  belonging  to  the  same  genus  of  heavy-grained,  wheatlike 
plants.  One  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  these  is  the  common 
quack  grass,  Triticum  repens,  which  maintains  itself  by  its  running 
rootstock,  independent  of  its  seeding,  and  is  therefore  a  trouble- 
some weed  ;  another  is  the  awned  wheat  grass,  Triticimi  caninum, 
which  is,  along  with  several  other  species,  indigenous  to  northern 
latitudes.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  taking  the  world  over 
there  is  no  dearth  of  relatives  of  the  wheat  kind,  not  only  in 
cultivation  but  also  in  the  wild,  nor  should  we  expect  at  this 
date  to  find  anywhere  in  nature  species  identical  with  strains 
that  have  been  cultivated  and  selected  for  more  than  a  hundred 
generations  of  man. 

Barley.  This,  too,  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  cultivated 
plants,  coming  down  to  our  own  day  in  three  distant  races, 
recognized  as  species  by  the  botanists :  viz.  the  two-rowed, 
Hordeuni  distichon ;  the  common  or  four-rowed,  Hordeiini 
vulgare ;  and  the  six-rowed,  Hordeum  hexastichon,  the  most 
commonly  cultivated  in  antiquity. 

The  two-rowed  barley  has  been  found  wild  in  western  Asia 
''  from  the  Red  Sea  to  the  Caucasus  and  the  Caspian,"  ^  though 
whether  feral  or  truly  aboriginal  cannot  of  course  be  told.  This 
barley  has  not  been  found  in  Egyptian  monuments,  but  has  been 
found  among  the  remains  of  the  lake  dwellers  of  Switzerland 
before  their  use  of  metals,  though  the  six-rowed  variety  seems 
to  have  been  more  commonly  cultivated  then. 

The  common  four-rowed  barley  is  said  to  have  been  seen 
growing  wild  in  Mesopotamia,  but  it  has  been  found  neither  in 
Egyptian  monuments  nor  in  the  lake  dwellings. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  six-rowed  barley  was  well  known  among 
the  ancients,  being  abundant  in  the  lake  dwellings  of  the  early 
stone  age  and  in  the  earliest  Egyptian  monuments,  as  well  as  in 
Italy  during  its  bronze  age.    It  is  not  known  in  the  wild  state. 

1  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  p.  368. 


246        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

From  all  the  facts  Candolle  draws  this  interesting  inference  : 

"  I.  That  the  barleys  with  four  and  six  rows  were  derived 
from  H.  distichon,  —  the  two-rowed  sort,  in  prehistoric  agri- 
culture anterior  to  that  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  who  built 
the  monuments. 

"2.  That  barleys  with  six  and  four  ranks  were  species  formerly 
wild,  extinct  since  the  historical  epoch."  ^ 

>•  Indian  corn  (Zea  mays).  This  plant  is  often  and  most  properly 
called  maize  in  written  descriptions,  because  the  word  "  corn  " 
is  a  general  term  for  grain  food.  Thus  "corn"  in  Bible  times  un- 
doubtedly meant  wheat,  as  it  does  in  England  to-day,  or,  at 
most,  it  might  have  included  barley,  which,  as  we  now  know, 
was  a  common  grain  among  the  Egyptians.  With  us,  however, 
the  term  "  corn  "  is  unalterably  associated  with  the  maize  plant, 
and  we  shall  continue  to  follow  the  example  of  the  New  World 
and  apply  this  term  to  our  most  important  grain  crop. 

By  any  count,  all  things  considered,  Indian  corn  is  the  most 
important  grain  plant  of  the  world,  especially  as  food  for 
domestic  animals.  It  has  never  been  a  favorite  for  the  white 
man,  partly  because  it  is  inferior  to  wheat  and  partly  because  it 
is  so  much  used  for  animals.^ 

This  is  the  only  one  of  our  grain  plants  that  did  not  come  to 
us  from  the  Old  World.  Like  tobacco,  potatoes,  and  the  turkey, 
it  is  truly  an  American  product.  When  the  Spaniards  discovered 
South  America  they  found  the  Aztecs  raising  this  crop  freely, 
and  when  our  forefathers  landed  in  New  England  the  Indians 
brought  them  corn  to  ward  off  starvation. 

The  mystery  of  it  all  is,  where  they  got  it,  for  nowhere  on 
the  continent  or  in  the  world  is  any  wild  plant  found  growing 
that  might  by  any  stretch   of  the   imagination  be  called  the 

1  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  p.  370. 

2  It  seems  to  be  a  general  principle  that  man  will  not  freely  eat  the  same 
food  that  he  gives  his  animals.  We  look  upon  corn  as  cattle  and  pig  food, 
and,  while  not  unfit  for  human  diet,  yet  it  is  not  and  will  never  become  a  favor- 
ite. We  have  imported  the  cowpea  from  Asia,  where  it  is  used  for  human  food, 
but  we  feed  it  to  cattle  and  do  not  think  of  eating  it  ourselves. 


CULTIVATED  GRAINS  AND  GRASSES  247 

progenitor  of  Indian  corn.  All  this  strongly  suggests  that 
the  Indians  themselves  procured  it  from  some  former  race  like 
the  mound  builders,  which  may  not  have  been  older  than  the 
races  from  which  the  Aztecs  developed.  In  any  event  the 
origin  of  Indian  cor-n  is  as  much  of  a  mystery  as  that  of  wheat, 
except  that  we  know  precisely  when  and  where  it  came  into  the 
hands  of  the  white  man.^ 

This  crop  was  the  chief  reliance  of  the  Iroquois,  or  Six  Nations, 
of  western  New  York.  The  squaws  raised  large  crops  of  it, 
which  were  stored  in  stockaded  villages  for  protection  against 
thieves,^  and  while  the  braves  defended  the  stores  and  extermi- 
nated their  enemies,  the  squaws  cleared  more  land  and  raised 
more  corn  and  apples.'"^ 

There  are  many  evidences  that  corn  is  a  comparatively  new 
species  on  the  earth.  One  is  the  large  number  of  giant  grasses 
found  in  the  American  tropics,  many  of  which  suggest  a  resem- 
blance to  maize,  while  others  are  clearly  connected  with  broom 
corn,  which  is  a  close  relative.  The  other  evidence  of  its  newness 
is  its  extreme  variability  not  only  in  size  but  in  the  shape,  location, 
and  character  of  the  grain. 

1  The  Aztecs  and  Toltecs  of  Mexico  and  the  Incas  of  Peru  are  not  so  very 
old  as  we  measure  antiquity.  They  were  in  the  bronze  age  of  their  develop- 
ment at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  this  continent  by  Europeans,  as  the  North 
American  Indians  were  in  the  stone  age ;  but  archeologists  do  not  regard  their 
remains  as  running  much,  if  any,  back  of  the  time  of  Christ,  though  what  civili- 
zation might  have  antedated  them  we  have  no  means  of  knowing,  except  that 
they  left  nothing  behind  that  will  compare  in  age  with  the  lake  dwellers  of 
Switzerland,  the  pyramid  builders  of  Egypt,  or  the  brickmakers  of  Babylon. 

2  To  protect  this  store  of  food  fierce  wars  were  waged  with  their  neighbors, 
and  as  offensive  measures  are  always  better  than  defensive,  it  became  the  custom 
to  send  out  each  summer  one  or  more  parties  of  young  braves  to  wage  wars 
of  extermination  on  surrounding  tribes.  Nothing  could  stand  against  this  alli- 
ance of  the  Six  Nations  and  their  methods,  and  they  made  themselves  felt 
throughout  all  of  eastern  Canada,  as  far  west  as  Illinois  and  as  far  south  as  the 
Carolinas.  It  was  the  beginning  of  what  would  undoubtedly  in  time  have 
developed  an  Indian  civilization  if  it  had  not  been  interrupted  by  the  coming 
of  the  white  man.    In  this  way  a  cultivated  crop  is  the  beginning  of  civilization. 

^  The. farming  of  the  Iroquois  was  not  limited  to  corn.  Remains  of  the  old 
Indian  orchards  may  still  be  traced  in  the  region  of  the  lakes  of  western 
New  York. 


248         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

The  kernel  is  generally  borne  upon  an  "  ear  "  emerging  from 
a  joint  about  halfway  up  the  stalk,  and  the  pollen  is  ripened  on 
a  "  tassel  "  at  the  top ;  that  is  to  say,  the  female  flowers  are  in 
one  place  and  the  male  are  in  another. 

In  a  few  cases,  however,  stray  kernels  will  be  found  on  the 
tassel  (see  Fig.  19),  showing  the  presence  of  female  flowers  at 
the  top  ;  and  more  rarely  will  a  short  tassel  be  found  on  the  end 
of  the  ear,  suggesting  that  the  plant  has  but  recently  developed 
from  a  branching  stem  bearing,  like  timothy,  both  male  and 
female  flowers  at  the  extremities.  Of  course  pollen  would  fall 
most  successfully  on  the  lower  flowers,  and  it  is  easy  to  see  how, 
in  time,  a  plant  might  develop  like  corn,  with  nearly  all  the  lower 
flowers  female  and  nearly  all  the  upper  ones  male. 

The  grain  is  also  exceedingly  variable,  ranging  from  the  rough 
kernel  of  the  "  dent "  to  the  smooth  kernel  of  the  "  flint,"  and 
from  the  common  starchy  field  corn  to  the  shriveled  sweet  corn 
and  the  little  pop  corn  of  our  gardens. 

Another  evidence  of  the  newness  of  corn  is  its  prompt  and 
complete  response  to  selection  in  almost  any  desired  direction. 
In  this  way  the  color  may  be  changed  as  well  as  the  size  of  the 
plant,  the  number  and  height  of  the  ears  upon  the  stalk,  or 
the  width  and  shape  of  the  leaves.  Altogether  it  is  an  exceed- 
ingly valuable  and  unusually  interesting  plant,  and  we  owe  our 
Indian  predecessors  much  gratitude  for  its  preservation  and 
transmission  to  us. 

Corn  is  not  a  plant  well  calculated  to  maintain  itself  in  diffi- 
cult surroundings  or  under  a  very  wide  variety  of  hard  conditions, 
so  that,  all  things  considered,  it  is  not  strange  that  this  plant  is 
not  found  widely  disseminated  in  the  wild. 

First  of  all,  it  needs  almost  ideal  conditions  for  its  successful 
growth,  and  is  easily  killed  out  entirely.  Again,  the  grain  sepa- 
rates with  difficulty  from  the  cob.  It  has  neither  wings  for  flight 
nor  means  of  burial  in  the  ground,  neither  can  it  attach  itself  to 
the  hair  or  fur  of  animals  for  distribution.  Moreover,  it  easily  rots 
in  the  same  climatic  conditions  that  are  best  adapted  to  its  growth. 


CULTIVATED  GRAINS  AND  GRASSES  249 

All  things  considered,  it  seems  to  be  one  of  those  plants  that 
developed  in  a  small  area  affording  peculiarly  favorable  condi- 
tions, and,  it  is  altogether  probable,  was  never  widely  dissem- 
inated in  the  wild.  It  could  not  have  been  known  at  all  in  the 
ancient  eastern  world,  or  it  would  certainly  have  been  cultivated, 
even  though  the  people  of  those  times  depended  far  less  upon 
grain  and  more  upon  pasture  for  maintaining  their  animals  than 
we  do,  and  though  corn  could  never  make  its  way  for  human 
food  where  wheat  could  be  grown. 

Oats.  Two  species  of  this  grain  are  involved  in  the  discussion, 
the  common  oat  {A vena  sativd)  and  the  side  oat  {Avena  one?t- 
talis),  in  which  the  grains  are  all  upon  one  side  of  the  head.  This 
grain  can  by  no  means  boast  the  antiquity  of  wheat  and  barley. 
It  was  grown  by  the  ancient  Greeks  under  the  name  of  bromus, 
and  by  the  Latins  as  avena.  It  has  been  found  in  the  later  lake 
dwellings  of  Switzerland  (not  very  old),  but  it  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  grown  by  either  the  ancient  Egyptians  or  the  Hebrews. 

No  other  cultivated  grain  can  so  well  maintain  itself  in  the 
uncultivated  state,  and  for  this  reason  oats  have  been  found 
growing  wild  in  many  separated  regions  of  the  world,  but  there 
is  little  or  no  evidence  that  it  is  aboriginal  in  these  places. 

Besides  these  cultivated  races,  however,  there  are  a  number 
of  closely  related  wild  species  which  interest  us,  because  it  is 
possible  that  from  such  as  these  oats  were  originally  had.  In 
America  we  have  both  Avena  striata  and  Avena  smithii,  both 
distinctly  oatlike  wild  perennials.  The  Gartner  brothers  of 
England,  who  are  among  the  greatest  improvers  of  the  oat,  have 
imported  a  "  wild  oat "  from  eastern  Asia,  which  is  sufficiently 
close  to  the  common  oat  to  cross  with  it  and  to  afford  foundation 
for  selection  and  ultimate  improvement. 

Rye  {Secale  cereale).  Here  at  last  we  have  a  comparatively 
new  grain  among  us.  Candolle  says  that  it  is  not  found  in 
Egyptian  remains  nor  in  those  of  the  lake  dwellers,  that  no 
name  for  it  exists  in  either  the  Semitic,  Sanskrit,  or  Chinese 
languages,  and  that  the  ancient  Greeks  did  not  know  it. 


250        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS    ' 

As  has  been  indicated,  this  is  a  plant  that  easily  maintains 
itself  in  the  wild  condition.  That  wild  rye  has  been  many  times 
discovered  does  not  admit  of  a  doubt,  but,  from  the  fact  just 
stated,  this  would  not  be  conclusive  evidence  of  its  aboriginal  state. 

However  this  may  be,  according  to  the  best  authorities  there 
are  no  less  than  five  or  six  closely  related  species  growing  wild 
in  western  Asia  and  southeastern  Europe,  particularly  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Black  and  Caspian  seas,  leaving  no  doubt 
of  the  identity  of  its  wild  relatives  and  of  the  approximate  region 
of  its  early  cultivation. 

Rice  {Oryza  sativa).  At  last  we  have  a  grain  of  ancient  and 
honorable  standing  that  still  exists  truly  in  the  wild  state,  where 
it  flourishes  in  the  marshes  of  Cochin  China.  Being  an  aquatic 
plant,  it  more  easily  maintains  itself  outside  of  cultivation  than 
can  those  species  confined  to  the  upland. ^ 

Rice  undoubtedly  originated  in  China,  where  it  has  been  culti- 
vated at  least  since  2000  b.c,  and  whence  it  spread  to  India 
and  gradually  westward  around  the  world.  Candolle  asserts,  on 
what  he  considers  good  authority,  that  a  thousand  years  elapsed 
between  its  cultivation  in  Babylon  and  its  introduction  into  Syria, 
another  two  or  three  hundred  before  it  made  its  way  into  Egypt, 
and  it  was  not  until  1468  that  it  was  first  cultivated  in  Italy.  Its 
introduction  into  the  United  States  is  said  to  date  from  1694, 
when  a  vessel  from  Madagascar  put  into  a  South  Carolina  port 
in  distress.  From  a  little  sack  of  rice  on  board,  given  to  a  resi- 
dent, it  rapidly  spread  over  the  state  and  afterward  to  Louisiana, 
where  its  production  has  rapidly  increased  since  the  Civil  War. 

The  history  of  this  plant  attracts  attention  to  Zizania  aquatica, 
the  Indian  rice  or  water  oats  of  our  own  country.    This  curious 

1  The  student  must  be  impressed  with  the  disadvantage  under  which  wild 
plants,  as  compared  with  wild  animals,  labor  in  maintaining  themselves  in  the 
original  state.  When  the  haunts  of  the  wild  are  invaded  by  man,  the  animal 
retreats  to  other  and  more  remote  regions,  possibly  better  than  those  he  has 
been  forced  to  abandon.  The  plant,  on  the  other  hand,  being  unable  to  move, 
must  stay  and  take  the  consequences,  and,  being  the  prey  of  both  animals  and 
man,  it  is  comparatively  easily  forced  to  extinction. 


CULTIVATED  GRAINS  AND  GRASSES  25 1 

plant  grows  freely  in  the  marshes  and  along  the  borders  of  our 
northern  lakes,  where  it  constitutes  the  feeding  grounds  of  our 
wild  geese  in  summer  time.  It  is  tall  and  vigorous,  bearing  a 
heavy  crop  of  large  starchy  seeds.  These  seeds  were  much 
prized  by  the  Indians,  who  gathered  them  in  great  quantities 
for  food,  which  fact  would  undoubtedly  have  led  in  due  time 
to  its  systematic  cultivation. 

Sorghum  {Andropogon  sorghum).  This  genus,  Andropogon,  with 
its  many  and  diverse  species,  is  a  great  puzzle  to  botanists,  run- 
ning as  it  does  by  almost  imperceptible  gradations  into  the 
genus  Panicum,  with  its  eight  hundred  and  fifty  or  more  species 
scattered  well  over  the  world. 

The  cultivated  sorghums  are  of  two  widely  different  sorts,  the 
commercial  sugar-bearing  sorghum,  closely  related  to  the  sugar 
cane  {Sacchariim  officinanim)  and  used  mostly  as  a  forage 
plant ;  and  the  nonsaccharine,  to  which  belong  broom  corn  ^  and 
the  various  grain  crops  cultivated  under  the  names  Kafir  corn, 
durra  (doura,  dhourra,  or  dhoura),  Milo  maize,  or  Jerusalem  corn. 
Botanists  quite  frequently  designate  the  saccharine  sorghums  as 
Sorghum  saccharatiim  and  the  nonsaccharine  as  Sorghum  vul- 
gare,  all  of  which  illustrates  their  difficulties  in  attempting  to 
make  a  classification  to  fit  the  facts.  The  sorghums  are  of  recent 
introduction  as  cultivated  plants.  They  are  not  found  among  the 
remains  of  the  lake  dwellers  or  of  the  Egyptians.  The  name 
is  absent  from  Chinese  literature  until  recent  times.  The  Greeks 
and  Romans  were  unacquainted  with  the  species,  which  are  not 
mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament. 

The  origin  of  the  sorghums  is  not  clearly  established.  By 
many  writers  they  have  been  credited  to  Asia,  but  the  absence 
from  Sanskrit  of  any  word  to  designate  sorghum  is  held  by 
Candolle  to  argue  against  the  assumption.  When  we  add  to  this 
the  fact  that  nonsaccharine  sorghums  abound  in  equatorial  Africa 

1  It  ought  to  be  generally  known  that  the  great  broom-corn  districts  of  the 
world  are  in  eastern  Kansas  and  in  the  region  about  Areola  and  Tuscola, 
Illinois. 


252         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

in  many  species,  we  feel  confident  that  we  must  refer  the  origin 
of  our  sorghums  to  the  dark  continent,^  whence  they  spread  first 
to  Egypt  and  afterward  east,  north,  and  west. 

Sugar  cane  (Saccharum  officinarum).  This  remarkable  sugar- 
bearing  plant  is  only  remotely  related  to  the  Sorghums.  It  is 
cultivated  to-day  in  all  the  equatorial  regions  of  the  earth,  for 
its  sugar  is  a  universal  favorite,  though  it  is  of  but  compara- 
tively recent  introduction. 

Its  most  ancient  names  are  Sanskrit  ^  (ikshu  or  ikshava).  All 
of  its  nearest  related  species  grow  wild  in  southeastern  India, 
the  Malay  Peninsula,  and  the  outlying  islands.  Both  these  facts 
indicate  the  origin  to  have  been  in  Cochin  China  or  thereabouts, 
from  which  it  spread  first  west  with  the  India  trade  and  after- 
wards to  China,  where  it  appeared  not  much,  if  any,  before  the 
time  of  Christ.^  The  Greeks  and  Romans  had  heard  of  it  as 
calamus.  The  Hebrews  were  unacquainted  with  sugar,  and  to 
them  honey  and  the  honeycomb  were  symbols  of  sweetness. 
The  Arabs  introduced  it  into  Spain,  and  from  thence  it  made 
its  way  to  the  West  India  islands  (St.  Domingo,  1520,  and 
Guadeloupe,  1644)  and  soon  after  became  rapidly  abundant. 

Millet.  This  is  a  popular  name  for  a  great  variety  of  useful 
plants.  First  of  all,  it  is  often  erroneously  applied  to  the  Asi- 
atic cultivations  of  the  various  nonsaccharine  sorghums  already 
mentioned. 

Again  it  is  applied  to  the  pearl  or  cat-tail  millet  {Pcn7iisctJim 
typhoideimi),  to  the  foxtail  millet  (Setaria  italica,  the  Paniciim 

1  The  writer  saw  growing  ffeely  in  Brazil  what  would  be  taken  anywhere  to 
be  a  broom  corn  with  an  inferior  brush.  I  had  no  means  of  tracing  its  habitat, 
but  from  the  fact  that  broom  corn  was  not  only  not  cultivated  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, but  brooms  themselves  were  unknown,  it  had  every  semblance  of  being 
indigenous.  Granting  even  that  to  be  true,  we  could  not  look  upon  South 
America  as  the  original  source  of  broom  corn  because  it  was  known  in  Egypt 
before  the  discovery  of  this  country. 

2  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  p.  157. 

8  The  older  Chinese  writings  are  said  to  make  no  mention  of  it,  which  is 
significant,  because  the  universal  appetite  for  sweets  made  it  a  favorite  at  once 
upon  acquaintance. 


CULTIVATED  GRAINS  AND  GRASSES  253 

italicuni  of  Linnaeus,  so  commonly  raised  for  hay),  and  to  the 
true  or  broom-corn  millet  (^Panicum  miliaceum).  These  last 
two  are  the  millets  of  literature,  and  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to 
keep  them  separated. 

Millet  has  been  cultivated  as  a  food  plant  from  great  antiquity, 
at  least  two  .species  being  found  common  in  the  remains  of  the 
oldest  lake  dwellers,  which,  it  will  be  remembered,  were  in  the 
stone  age.  5.  italica  is  probably  one  of  the  five  seeds  sown  by 
the  Chinese  emperor  at  the  annual  public  ceremony  instituted 
some  2700  B.C.,  in  which  he  plows  a  furrow  before  the  people 
and  scatters  the  five  most  important  seeds  therein,  thus  giving 
public  testimony  and  the  highest  official  endorsement  to  the 
importance  of  agriculture. 

This  Italian  millet  {S.  italica)  is  the  millet  of  ancient  China, 
which  is  almost  certainly  native  in  southeastern  Asia,  where  its 
related  species  abound,  and  whence  it  must  have  made  its  way 
to  Switzerland  by  a  northern  rather  than  by  a  southern  route,  as 
it  was  unknown  in  Syria  ;  unless,  indeed,  it  had  a  double  origin, 
as  is  not  at  all  improbable  when  we  compare  with  it  our  common 
and  abundant  foxtail  grass,  the  nearly  related  Setaria  viridis, 
which  could  readily  be  made  into  a  valuable  grain-bearing  grass. 

The  other  true  millet  was  also  known  to  the  lake  dwellers,  and 
from  all  accounts  seems  to  have  been  native  in  southwestern 
Asia,  possibly  in  the  Egyptian  side  of  Arabia. 

Buckwheat  {Polygonum  fagopyrum).  This  useful  grain  is  men- 
tioned here  quite  out  of  its  place,  for  it  is  in  no  way  related  to  the 
grasses.  It  is  a  relative  of  the  smartweeds,  which,  together  with 
still  closer  relatives,  grow  freely  over  the  northern  United  States. 

The  original  of  our  common  buckwheat  grows  wild  in  Man- 
churia, on  the  banks  of  the  Amur  River,  and  two  or  three  related 
but  inferior  species,  such  as  the  Tartary  buckwheat,  are  wild  in 
Tartary  and  Siberia.  From  here  it  made  its  way  into  Europe, 
following  the  former  species  which  had  been  introduced  by  way 
of  Tartary  and  Russia  during  the  Middle  Ages  (about  1400), 
under  the  name  of  Saracen  wheat,  a  name  that  long  confused 


2  54        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

authorities  as  to  its  nativity.  The  point  was  only  recently  cleared 
up  and  the  true  origin  of  this  grain  established  in  Manchuria, 
all  of  which  tallies  well  with  the  fact  that  it  was  apparently 
unknown  to  the  prehistoric  people  either  of  Europe  or  of  Asia. 

Timothy  {Phleum  pretense).  This  plant,  so  familiar  to  farmers 
as  the  great  hay  grass,  is  the  same  as  the  herd's  grass  of  New 
England.  It  is  native  in  Europe,  as  the  small  and  related  Phletim 
alpinum,  or  mountain  timothy,  is  native  to  the  higher  latitudes 
and  the  upper  levels  of  the  northern  Appalachian  Mountains. 

This  great  hay  ^  grass  is  at  best  only  semidomesticated,  for  it 
has  never  been  systematically  ''  improved,"  as  have  wheat,  corn, 
and  almost  all  the  grain  crops,  so  that  only  one  variety  exists. 

Blue  grass  (Poa  pratensis)  (Kentucky  blue  grass,  June  grass, 
spear  grass,  etc.),  like  timothy,  is  raised  in  pretty  much  its  orig- 
inal condition.  It  is  native  throughout  the  hilly  lands  of  east- 
ern United  States  from  Pennsylvania  westward,  whence  it  has 
crept  as  far  west  as  Iowa  and  Kansas  and  as  far  south  as  Ten- 
nessee, below  which  it  does  not  seem  to  thrive.  Like  timothy  it 
has  never  been  improved  and  exists  in  but  one  variety,  though  it 
is  very  variable  and  there  are  more  than  eighty  related  species. 

Redtop  (Agrostis  vulgaris),  often  called  bent  grass,  is  another 
wildling  among  the  grasses,  and  some  of  the  best  redtop 
meadows  are  self-seeded.  Most  of  the  redtop  seed  of  the  world 
is  produced  in  three  or  four  counties  of  southern  Illinois,  show- 
ing that  it  is  only  fairly  coming  into  domestication.  It  grows 
native  in  southern  United  States,  over  widely  scattered  regions 
both  high  and  low,  but  only  in  the  latter  does  it  make  growth 
enough  to  be  of  value. 

1  Timothy  is  unsuited  for  pasture  because  it  grows  a  little  bulb  just  under 
ground.  If  pastured  when  young,  this  little  bulb  will  not  form,  in  which  case 
the  sod  will  not  endure  ;  and  if  pastured  after  haying,  the  stock  will  soon  learn 
to  pull  up  and  eat  this  bulb.  This  is  what  causes  many  farmers  to  wonder  why 
their  cattle  thrived  so  well  on  stubble  pasture  in  dry  weather,  when  grass  does 
not  grow.  It  is  also  the  reason  why  the  meadow  next  year  is  a  disappoint- 
ment; the  plants  have  been  pulled  up  and  killed.  Timothy  should  not  be 
pastured  when  it  has  been  recently  mowed,  that  is,  stock  should  not  be  turned 
upon  timothy  meadows  immediately  after  haying. 


CULTIVATED  GRAINS  AND  GRASSES  255 

Orchard  grass  {Dactylis  glomerata).  This  curious  and  very 
striking  grass,  grown  but  rarely,  is  a  native  of  Europe,  but  is 
now  found,  according  to  BeaV  in  North  Africa,  India,  and 
North  America.  It  is  widely  scattered  but  never  popular,  largely 
because  of  its  bunchy  habit  of  growth,  its  coarse  stem  and  leaf, 
and  its  habit  of  crowding  out  other  grasses  but  failing  to  com- 
pletely occupy  the  ground  itself.  It  ripens  with  clover,  and  be- 
cause of  its  habit  last  mentioned  it  is  better  grown  with  that  crop 
than  grown  alone. 

The  Festucas.  This  useful  genus  of  grasses,  too  little  known 
by  American  farmers,  covers  some  eighty  species  growing  wild 
in  the  cooler  regions  of  the  Old  World.  The  most  common 
and  well-known  species  are  the  large  Festnca  elatior,  or  tall 
fescue  (pronounced  fes'ku),  making  excellent  hay  as  well  as 
pasture  ;  Festiica  pratensis,  or  meadow  fescue,  much  like  the 
above  only  slightly  shorter  ;  and  the  little  bunchy  Festnca  ovina, 
or  sheep's  fescue,  of  slight  value  except  that  it  will  grow  in 
shady  places,  making  a  better  sod  in  groves  than  will  any  other 
known  grass.  These  grasses  are  much  esteemed  in  England, 
but  not  yet  extensively  cultivated  in  this  country,  where  we  have 
scarcely  commenced  to  realize  the  variety  and  value  of  many 
native  grasses,  not  to  mention  the  less-known  introduced  sorts. 
Neither  timothy,  blue  grass,  redtop,  orchard  grass,  nor  f estuca 
is  mentioned  by  Candolle  in  his  history  of  the  origin  of  our  cul- 
tivated plants.  This  must  have  been  clearly  an  oversight,  as 
they  were  all  in  common  use  long  before  the  date  of  his  writ- 
ings (1882).  The  best  book  on  our  own  grasses,  native  and  cul- 
tivated, is  ''Grasses  of  North  America,"  by  Dr.  W.  J.  Beal  of 
Michigan  Agricultural  College. 

Miscellaneous  grasses.  The  list  of  grasses  that  have  been  of 
use  to  man,  and  that  have  more  or  less  come  under  cultivation, 
is  too  long  for  even  mention  here.  Some  of  them,  like  wheat, 
oats,  and  sugar  cane,  are  as  fully  domesticated  as  corn,  while 
others,  like  the  bamboo,  are  equally  useful  but  rarely  cultivated. 

1  "  Grasses  of  North  America,"  p.  109. 


256        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

In  addition  to  all  these  should  be  mentioned  that  horde  of  wild 
things  growing  together  and  constituting  such  great  natural  pas- 
tures as  the  original  prairie  range  of  our  own  western  states  and 
their  equivalent  on  the  pampas  of  South  America.  Unfortunately 
none  of  these  native  prairie  grasses  has  been  domesticated,  and 
most  or  all  of  them  seem  on  the  road  to  early  extinction.  This 
seems  a  pity,  especially  when  we  recall  the  fact  that  neither  tim- 
othy, blue  grass,  nor  redtop,  nor  yet  any  of  the  English  grasses, 
seems  fully  adapted  to  the  soil  and  climate  of  our  prairie  states. 
England  is  the  great  home  of  grasses,  native  and  introduced. 
Its  moist,  cool  climate  is  especially  favorable  to  the  hay  and 
pasture  grasses.  The  tall  oat,  sweet  vernal,  and  the  more  use- 
ful festucas  are  all  well  known  and  all  have  been  long  recovered 
from  the  wild.  We  should  do  as  much  for  our  native  grasses, 
and  fame  if  not  fortune  awaits  the  man  who  will  develop  from 
American  native  varieties  even  one  really  good  hay  or  pasture 
grass  suited  to  our  conditions. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  CULTIVATED  LEGUMES 

Clover  •  Alfalfa  •  The  lentil  •  The  bean  •  The  pea  •  The  vetch  •  The  lupine  • 
The  soy  bean  •  The  cowpea 

A  certain  class  of  valuable  plants  is  known  as  legumes.  The 
distinguishing  botanical  trait  of  legumes  is  that  they  bear  their 
seeds  in  pods,  like  peas  and  beans.  The  pod  may  be  large  and 
straight  as  in  these  familiar  species,  small  and  inconspicuous  as 
in  clover,  or  spiral-shaped  as  in  alfalfa.  In  all  cases,  however, 
the  seeds,  whether  large  or  small,  resemble  beans  in  splitting 
readily  into  two  equal  parts,  unlike  corn  or  wheat  or  the  seeds 
of  the  grasses  generally. 

The  physiological  distinction  of  leguminous  plants  is  a  very 
peculiar  one,  and  one  that  is  unknown  in  plants  outside  this 
particular  family.  It  is  this  :  there  will  nearly  always  be  found 
growing  on  the  roots  of  all  legumes  little  nodules  or  warts  called 
tubercles.  These  tubercles  vary  in  size  and  shape  from  those 
of  the  red  clover,  which  are  not  so  large  as  the  head  of  a 
pin,  up  to  those  of  the  soy  bean,  which  are  as  large  as  a 
small  pea. 

These  tubercles  are  really  the  home  of  millions  of  microscopic 
plants  called  bacteria,  which  are  parasitic  upon  the  legume  ;  that 
is  to  say,  they  depend  upon  the  host  plant  for  food,  and  to 
that  extent  they  are  a  disadvantage.  This  disadvantage  is,  how- 
ever, more  than  offset  by  their  exceeding  usefulness  in  the 
matter  of  fertility. 

The  agricultural  distinction  of  the  legumes  generally  is  that 
the  bacteria  within  these  tubercles  have  the  power  of  taking  the 
free  nitrogen  of  the  air  and  putting  it  into  combinations  that 
may  be  used  as  food  for  plants  generally,  a  property  that  is  not 

257 


258        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

possessed,  so  far  as  we  know,  by  any  other  form  of  life.  When 
the  student  comes  to  reaUze,  by  the  study  of  the  fertility  problem, 
the  difficulty  encountered  by  farmers  in  getting  sufficient  nitro- 
gen into  the  soil  for  profitable  growth  of  crops,  then  the  real 
value  of  legumes  as  the  only  natural  and  cheap  source  of  nitrogen 
will  be  fully  appreciated.^ 

The  nutritive  significance  of  legumes  lies  in  the  high  nitrogen 
and  mineral  content  of  both  the  grain  and  the  stem.  As  the 
grasses  are  notable  for  their  carbon  content  in  the  form  of  either 
starch  or  oil,  so  the  legumes  are  remarkable  for  their  nitrogen 
and  mineral  content,  especially  the  former.  The  exceeding 
rarity  of  nitrogen  gives  it  a  high  value  for  animal  food  as  well 
as  for  fertility,  all  of  which  goes  to  make  the  legumes,  agricul- 
turally speaking,  the  most  distinctive  family  of  plants  ever  do- 
mesticated.2  They  make  an  ideal  food  for  growing  animals  and 
a  fair  substitute  for  meat  in  the  diet  of  man  ;  indeed,  wherever 
in  the  earth  man  has  lived  with  little  or  no  flesh  food  he  has 
drawn  the  more  heavily  upon  the  seeds  of  legumes. 

Clover.  Under  this  general  name  are  grouped  a  variety  of 
species  more  or  less  closely  related. 

I.  Trifolium  pratense,  the  common  red  clover,  sometimes 
called  purple  clover  or  meadow  trefoil,  the  latter  from  its  three- 
parted  leaf. 

1  Nitrogen  costs  in  the  markets,  in  the  form  of  commercial  fertilizers,  ap- 
proximately fifteen  cents  a  pound  everywhere,  but  can  be  produced  by  legumes 
in  the  proper  rotation  for  next  to  nothing. 

2  It  is  sometimes  necessary  to  "  inoculate  "  for  the  growth  of  legumes  ;  that 
is,  to  apply  the  proper  bacteria.  The  bacteria  are  not  the  same  for  different 
species  of  legumes.  For  example,  the  clover  tubercle  will  not  develop  on  the 
alfalfa  nor  that  of  the  pea  upon  the  bean.  If  the  particular  species,  say  alfalfa, 
has  never  before  been  grown  in  a  locality,  its  specific  bacteria  will  likely  not 
be  present,  in  which  case  the  tubercles  will  not  form  and  no  nitrogen  will  be 
taken  from  the  air,  such  a  plant  becoming  a  heavy  nitrogen  consumer  instead 
of  a  nitrogen  producer.  Inoculation  then  becomes  necessary,  for  if  the  tuber- 
cles do  not  form,  the  legume  is  very  exhaustive  to  land  instead  of  benefiting 
it,  and  ultimately  itself  dies  of  nitrogen  starvation.  Inoculation  is  generally 
effected  by  scattering  over  the  surface  a  little  soil  taken  from  a  field  in  which 
the  same  legume  has  grown  with  well-developed  tubercles.  One  to  one  and  a 
half  bushels  per  acre  is  sufficient  if  evenly  applied. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  CULTIVATED  LEGUMES        259 

2.  Tnfolium  medium,  the  mammoth,  giant,  or  pea-vine  clover, 
similar  to  the  above,  but  with  a  growth  so  heavy  that  the  stems 
no  longer  stand  erect  but  lie  creeping  on  the  ground. 

3.  Trifoliiim  repens,  the  common  white  or  Dutch  clover,  grow- 
ing wild  in  pastures  everywhere  in  the  northern  United  States 
and  never  cultivated. 

4.  Tnfolium  hybridiim,  the  common  alsike,  similar  to  the 
above  only  larger,  with  a  stronger  stem  and  a  touch  of  pink  in 
the  blossom,  grown  freely  on  moist  ground  for  hay. 

5.  Tnfolitim  incarnatum,  the  crimson  or  Italian  clover;  a 
short  erect  species  with  a  long,  beautiful  scarlet  "  head,"  mak- 
ing a  small  quantity  of  good  hay  but  rarely  used  by  American 
farmers,  as  the  yield  is  low. 

These  clovers  are  all  leguminous  plants  and  all  serve  the 
same  purpose  as  soil  restorers  so  far  as  nitrogen  is  concerned. 
The  farmers'  choice  therefore  turns  on  the  question  of  yield 
and  general  usefulness. 

This  rules  out  white  clover  as  a  cultivated  crop,  but  it  has  no 
difficulty  in  maintaining  itself  as  a  wild  plant,  ^  to  the  great  ad- 
vantage of  our  self-sown  native  pastures. 

The  scarlet  clover  is  but  recently  introduced  into  cultivation. 
According  to  Candolle  it  exists  wild  in  Gallicia,  in  Biscaya  and 
Catalonia,  as  also  in  Sardinia,  in  Algiers,  and  in  the  valley  of  the 
Danube,  in  some  of  which  places  it  may  have  been  introduced 
since  cultivation.  It  is  surely  indigenous  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Pyrenees  and  also  along  the  coast  of  Cornwall,  where  it 
is  associated  with  a  yellow  variety  which  is  truly  wild  also  on 
the  continent.2 

This  shows  how  the  process  of  domestication  is  sometimes 
long  deferred,  and  may  even  be  abandoned  if,  after  trial,  the 
species  is  not  found  worthy,  as  will  more  than  likely  be  the 
case  with  this  particular  clover. 

1  In  this  respect  it  rivals  Kentucky  blue  grass,  with  which  it  is  often  asso- 
ciated, an  association  clearly  advantageous  to  the  blue  grass,  whose  supply  of 
nitrogen  is  thereby  bfetter  assured.         ^  «  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  p.  106. 


26o        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

T.  pratense  and  its  nearly  related  form,  T.  medium,  merge 
together  in  literature  ;  indeed,  the  latter  is  to  be  regarded  as 
little  more  than  a  variety  of  the  other,  to  which  botanists  have 
given  a  specific  name  more  for  convenience  than  from  necessity. 
Neither  of  these,  however,  has  been  long  cultivated.  T.  pratense 
grows  wild  throughout  Europe,  in  Algeria,  in  Asia  Minor,  and 
in  southeastern  Siberia.  It  must  have  been  long  known  to  the 
people  of  Europe,  but  its  first  known  introduction  into  cultiva- 
tion was  in  Flanders  in  the  sixteenth  century,  from  which  it 
made  its  way  into  England  in  1630,  through  the  efforts  of  the 
Earl  of  Portland,  then  Lord  Chancellor.^  There  is  no  San- 
skrit or  other  Aryan  name  either  for  clover,  sainfoin,  or  alfalfa, 
from  which  Candolle  concludes  that  these  people  maintained  no 
artificial  meadows. 

Clover  is  then  a  new  thing  just  out  of  the  wild,  and  ready, 
indeed  waiting,  for  the  hand  of  the  improver.  Its  many  related 
species  and  their  wide  natural  range  lend  confidence  to  the  hope 
that  out  of  this  new  and  fresh  material  may  arise  most  valuable 
varieties  for  agricultural  purposes. 
>  Alfalfa  (Medicago  sativa),  variously  known  also  as  lucern, 
French  clover,  purple  medic,  Chilean  clover,  Spanish  trefoil,  etc. 
has  been  long  cultivated  in  western  United  States,  where  it  was 
introduced  by  the  Spanish  in  an  early  day.  It  was  tried  a  few 
generations  ago  in  New  England  and  the  eastern  states  along 
with  other  European  "  grasses,"  quite  naturally  bearing  its 
French  name,  lucern.  It  did  not,  however,  succeed.  The  gen- 
eral conclusion  at  that  time  was  that  this  "child  of  the  sun" 
required  a  deep,  loose,  sandy  subsoil  and  was  unable  to  thrive 
on  the  somewhat  stiff  clays  of  that  region. 

However,  it  gradually  worked  eastward  from  the  Far  West, 
jumping  the  Great  American  Desert  with  some  difficulty  and 
delay,  and  finally,  after  all  these  centuries,  was  a  few  years  ago 
well  introduced  into  Mississippi  valley  agriculture,  where  it  easily 
outyields  any  forage  crop  known,  commonly  affording  three 

1  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  p.  105. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  CULTIVATED  LEGUMES        26 1 

cuttings  whose  total  weight  ranges  from  four  to  as  high  as  five 
or  six  tons  per  acre. 

We  know  now  that  the  early  failures  of  this  plant  were  due 
not  to  clay  subsoils  but  to  the  absence  of  its  characteristic  bac- 
terium, without  which  it  could  not  draw  upon  the  free  nitrogen 
of  the  air ;  thus  it  was  thrown,  like  other  crops,  back  upon  the 
supply  contained  within  the  soil,  which  is  insufficient,  except  in 
rare  cases,  to  afford  material  for  so  heavy  a  feeder  as  this  crop.^ 

This  reason  for  its  failure  in  the  eastern  states  is  supported 
by  the  fact  that  a  few  individual  plants  always  succeeded.  These 
were  the  ones  that  sprang  from  seeds  which  happened  to  have 
had  a  little  of  the  inoculation  from  the  soil  in  which  the  crop  had 
been  growing.  Alfalfa,  however,  is  a  "  clean-seeded  crop."  But 
little  seed  is  sown,  and  it  would  take  many  years  to  establish  so 
vigorous  a  feeder  by  the  natural  means  of  infection.  The  eastern 
farmers  gave  it  up  too  soon.  The  Kansas  people  persisted  till 
they  succeeded,  though  it  took  a  generation.  Fortunately  for 
Illinois  and  the  upper  Mississippi  valley,  when  the  attempt  was 
made  there  Dr.  Hopkins  of  the  University  of  Illinois  succeeded 
in  showing  that  the  question  of  success  or  failure  turned  upon 
the  presence  or  absence  of  the  characteristic  bacteria.  After 
having  conclusively  shown  this,  he  secured  a  ton  of  soil  from 
an  old  alfalfa  field  in  Kansas.  With  this  he  thoroughly  inocu- 
lated an  acre  of  the  university  farm,  and  from  this  all  Illinois 
and  much  neighboring  territory  have  been  inoculated  and  the 
culture  of  this  wonderful  plant  successfully  introduced  for  the 
first  time  in  the  Middle  West  without  the  usual  and  otherwise 
necessary  delay  of  waiting  for  the  slow  inoculation  from  seed 
and  the  long-continued  failures  necessarily  involved.^ 

1  Alfalfa  growing  without  inoculation  is,  of  course,  a  nitrogen  consumer,  and 
as  it  lives  for  seven  or  eight  years  it  will,  long  before  that  time,  exhaust  the 
nitrogen  of  most  soils  and  die  of  starvation. 

2  Curiously  enough  it  was  learned  that  wherever,  the  closely  related  plant, 
Melilotiis  alba,  or  sweet  clover,  grew  wild  no  inoculation  was  necessary,  and 
later  it  was  discovered  that  soil  taken  from  a  sweet-clover  spot  would  success- 
fully inoculate  for  alfalfa,  the  first  and  only  instance  known  in  which  the  bac- 
teria of  one  species  will  grow  upon  another.   Whether  the  bacteria  are  identical 


262         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Though  this  newest  of  our  crops  did  not  come  into  our  own 
agriculture  until  approximately  the  opening  of  the  twentieth 
century,  it  is,  after  all,  the  oldest  and  most  anciently  known  of  all 
our  leguminous  forage  plants,  excepting  only  the  cowpea  and 
soy  bean,  which  are  used  mainly  for  their  seeds.  Alfalfa  was 
known  to  the  Greeks  and  Persians,  who  called  it  medica  because 
it  had  been  brought  from  Media  at  the  time  of  the  Persian  War 
(470  B.C.),  though  it  apparently  did  not  come  into  general  culti- 
vation until  the  first  or  second  century  after  Christ. 

Candolle^  has  no  hesitation  in  affirming  that  alfalfa  is  wild 
in  several  provinces  to  the  south  of  the  Caucasus,  in  various 
parts  of  Persia,  in  Afghanistan,  Beluchistan,  and  Kashmir.  Its 
seeming  nonintroduction  into  China  and  India  is  a  mystery, 
explainable  only  on  the  theory  that  the  people  preferred  the 
plants  that  bore  heavy  seeds,  or  that  they  neglected  it  for 
some  unknown  reason  akin  to  that  which  evidently  deterred  the 
Aryans  from  developing  cultivated  meadows. 

The  student  will  not  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  remarkable 
significance  of  the  fact  that  this  oldest  of  all  the  cultivated  for- 
age plants  should  have  been  the  last  to  be  introduced  into  our 
own  agriculture,  nor  will  he  fail  to  note  the  scientific  basis  for 
the  failure  of  our  first  attempts,  which,  had  they  been  successful, 
might  have  greatly  influenced  the  development  of  the  eastern 
and  the  middle  states. 

The  lentil.  This  plant  is  evidently  a  puzzle  to  the  botanists, 
by  whom  it  is  variously  designated  as  Ervum  lens,  Lens  esculenta, 
and  sometimes  it  is  put  in  the  genus  Cicer.  This  confusion  is 
probably  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that  the  plant  has  been  long 
cultivated.  It  has  already  been  remarked  that  man,  when  main- 
taining himself  with  a  small  amount  of  animal  food,  quickly 
turns  to  seeds  of  legumes  as  a  source  of  nitrogen. 

or  only  closely  related  is  not  yet  known,  but  the  student  should  understand 
that  the  sweet  clover,  though  classified  as  a  distinct  species  and  in  a  different 
genus,  is  after  all,  in  many  respects,  almost  indistinguishable  from  alfalfa,  es- 
pecially in  its  earlier  stages  of  growth. 
1  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  p.  103. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  CULTIVATED  LEGUMES        263 

This  probably  accounts  for  the  early  cultivation  of  the  lentil, 
which  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  legumes.  It  was  cultivated  by 
the  later  lake  dwellers  (bronze  age)  of  Switzerland,  was  known 
by  both  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  is  mentioned  freely  in  the 
Old  Testament.  Without  a  doubt  Esau's  famous  mess  of  pottage 
was  a  dish  of  lentils. ^  This  plant  does  not  seem  to  have  entered 
into  Anglo-Saxon  agriculture,  and  in  many  respects  seems  on 
the  road  to  abandonment. 

»  The  bean  (Phaseolus  vulgaris)  ^  commonly  called  the  haricot  or 
kidney  bean,  was  early  credited  to  Asia.  Candolle  has  shown, 
however,  that  it  has  not  been  found  in  the  lake  dwellings  and 
that  it  was  absent  from  the  collection  of  leguminous  seeds  found 
by  Virchow  in  the  excavations  at  Troy,  which  included  not  only 
the  common  garden  pea  but  the  broad  bean.  He  also  calls  atten- 
tion to  the  absence  of  any  name  for  the  bean  in  either  Hebrew, 
Sanskrit,  or  Chinese,  and  adds  that  there  are  no  evidences  of  its 
use  in  ancient  Egypt.^ 

It  has  never  been  found  wild  in  any  country,  and  its  origin 
seemed  a  mystery  until  somewhat  recently,  when  several  varieties 
of  the  true  haricot  bean  were  found  in  some  Peruvian  tombs 
near  Lima.  These  tombs  may  not  antedate  the  Spanish  invasion, 
but  this  find,  together  with  the  fact  that  some  fifty  related  species 
are  American  ^  and  not  one  European,  leads  Candolle  to  conclude 

1  See  Genesis  xxv.    Also  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  p.  322. 

2  This  must  not  be  confused  with  the  broad  bean  belonging  to  another 
species,  Fada  vulgai-is  or  Vicia  faba,  which  in  turn  is  not  to  be  confused  with 
the  Lima  bean  {Phaseolus  hinatus),  also  native  to  South  America,  where  its 
wild  congeners  abound  in  the  Amazon  basin  and  central  Brazil,  whence  it  was 
probably  introduced  by  the  slave  trade  into  Africa  where  it  now  abounds.  The 
true  broad  bean  exists  alone  in  the  genus  Faba,  and  is  not  mentioned  by  Gray 
in  his  manual  of  American  plants,  wild  or  cultivated.  It  is  the  common  bean 
of  Europe,  a  small-seeded  variety  of  which  was  grown  by  the  lake  dwellers  in 
their  bronze  age  and  by  the  ancient  Egyptians,  though  no  specimens  are  found, 
a  fact  thought  to  be  due  to  their  being  considered  unclean  by  the  priests. 
Candolle  considers  this  plant  to  have  had  a  double  center  of  development,  one 
about  the  Caspian  Sea,  the  other  in  northern  Africa,  such  double  domestication 
being  frequent.    See  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  pp.  316-321. 

3  Several  of  these  near  relatives  grow  wild  in  North  America,  a  number 
of  them  being  native  to  Illinois ;  for  example,  Phaseolus  perennis,  Phaseolus 


264        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

that  the  bean  is  a  South  American  contribution,  a  conclusion 
that  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  shortly  after  the  Spanish 
discovery  the  bean  was  mentioned  almost  simultaneously  in 
several  widely  separated  regions  of  the  Old  World. 

Candolle  sums  up  as  follows  :  ^  "  (i)  Phaseohis  vulgaris  has 
not  been  long  cultivated  in  India,  the  southwest  of  Asia,  and 
Egypt ;  (2)  it  is  not  certain  that  it  was  known  in  Europe  be- 
fore the  discovery  of  America ;  (3)  at  this  epoch  the  number 
of  varieties  suddenly  increased  in  European  gardens  and  all 
authors  commenced  to  mention  them ;  (4)  the  majority  of  the 
species  of  the  genus  exist  in  South  America ;  (5)  seeds  appar- 
ently belonging  to  the  species  have  been  discovered  in  Peru- 
vian tombs  of  an  uncertain  date,  intermixed  with  many  species, 
all  American." 

--.  The  pea.  This  familiar  plant  exists  in  two  species  of  interest 
to  agriculture  : 

1,  The  field  pea  {Pisum  amense),  grown  both  for  its  seed 
and  its  forage  as  stock  food.  This  species  undoubtedly  grows 
wild  in  the  Mediterranean  countries,  possibly  also  in  the  south 
of  Russia,  and  has  been  only  recently  introduced  into  cultivation. 

2.  The  garden  pea  {Pisum  sativum),  generally  ranked  as  a 
separate  species,  but  more  than  likely  developed  from  the  above 
by  cultivation  ;  at  any  rate  it  has  been  longer  known  to  cultiva- 
tion than  has  the  less-improved  field  pea.  It  was  cultivated  by 
both  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans,  and  a  small-seeded  variety 
has  been  found  in  the  lake  dwellings  of  Switzerland  and  Savoy 
(age  of  bronze).  There  seems  to  be  no  indication  of  its  ancient 
cultivation  in  either  P2gypt  or  India. 

•3^  The  vetch  {Vicia  sativa)^  or  tare,  a  leguminous  plant  closely 
related  to  the  pea,  is  wild  over  nearly  all  of  Europe,  in  Algeria, 
and  in  Asia  Minor,  as  are  several  related  species,  especially 
Vicia  americana,  in  this  country. 

diversi/olius,  Phaseohis  helvolus,  and  Phaseolus  paucijlorus.  See  (iray  under 
Phaseolus. 

1  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  p.  343. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  CULTIVATED  LEGUMES        265 

Vetches  were  sown  by  the  Romans,  as  they  are  now  by  the 
EngHsh,  as  cattle  food,  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  ancient 
cultivation. 

The  lupine  {Lupinus  albus).  This  legume  was  cultivated  by  the 
ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  as  cattle  food,  but,  though  it  grows 
wild  in  many  varieties  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  including 
our  own  country,  it  has  not  been  largely  brought  into  use,  and 
now  it  shows  every  sign  of  passing  out  of  cultivation. ^ 

The  soy  bean  (Dolichos  soja).  This  is  a  new  crop  to  the  west- 
ern world  ;  indeed,  its  introduction  is  but  just  being  effected. 
It  came  to  us  from  Japan,  where,  as  in  China,  it  has  been  culti- 
vated from  the  remotest  antiquity  for  human  food.  It  is  certainly 
wild  in  Japan  and  most  likely  also  in  the  regions  to  the  south, 
where  related  species  flourish  even  in  the  island  of  Java.  The 
crop  is  commonly  called  the  soja,  or  soy  bean,  but  it  more  closely 
resembles  the  pea,  while  the  so-called  cowpea  is  more  like  a 
bean.  With  us  the  crop  is  used  exclusively  for  stock  food,  both 
grain  and  forage  being  useful. 

The  cowpea  [Dolichos  chinensis).  This  and  the  above  species 
are  giving  the  botanists  much  trouble.  They  are  here  put  into 
the  same  genus,  but  they  are  being  moved  about  so  much,  some- 
times together  and  sometimes  separated,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
keep  track  of  them.  There  perhaps  is  a  growing  disposition  to 
separate  them,  but  they  are  here  put  in  the  same  genus  awaiting 
the  final  decision  of  the  botanists. 

All  this,  however,  does  not  concern  us  now  further  than 
to  show  that  lines  on  which  classification  is  based  are  often 

1  The  student  can  hardly  reahze  how  rapidly  species  are  recovered  from  the 
wild,  cultivated  for  a  time,  and  then  abandoned  for  something  better  or  at  least 
for  something  else.  Thus  Darwin  tells  us,  "  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domes- 
tication," Vol.  I,  p.  336,  quoting  Heer,  that  the  wheat  of  the  lake  dwellers  in  the 
early  stone  age  was  a  small-headed  variety  with  grains  not  half  the  size  of 
modern  wheat.  This  lasted  down  to  the  "  Helvetico-Roman  age  and  then 
became  extinct,"  giving  place  to  better  races  in  turn,  up  to  the  latest  improved 
and  best  yielding  varieties.  It  appears,  too,  that  in  general  these  ancient  grains 
were  inferior  to  the  modern,  whether  wheat,  barley,  oats,  or  what  not,  and  that 
with  cultivation  has  been  associated  a  steadily  progressive  development. 


266        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

indistinct  and  difficult  to  establish,  and  to  prepare  the  student 
for  seeing  both  of  these  species  described  under  various  names. 
The  cowpea  has  been  recently  introduced  into  our  southern 
states  from  China,  where  it  has  been  cultivated  as  human  food 
from  great  antiquity.  Like  the  soy  bean  this  crop  is  fed  freely 
to  live  stock  in  our  country  and  consequently  neither  is  used  as 
human  food.^ 

1  Man  has  a  strange  aversion  to  consuming  the  safne  grain  he  feeds  his 
stock,  and  he  positively  refuses  to  eat  it  if  it  be^a  recent  importation.  The 
first  question  asked  of  a  new  food  plant  is  this :  "  Is  it  for  man  or  animal  ? " 
without  thinking  it  may  be  good  for  both  ;  but  the  question  once  answered,  the 
future  of  the  thing  is  settled.  This  is  why  all  efforts  to  introduce  Indian  corn 
into  Europe  to  replace  rye  as  human  food  have  failed  in  the  past  and  are  likely 
to  continue  to  fail  in  the  future.  Even  the  pauper  resists  what  he  considers  to 
be  putting  him  on  a  level  with  the  animals. 


CHAPTER  XX 

ORIGIN  OF  CULTIVATED  FRUITS  ^ 

The    apple  •  The    pear  •  The    plum  •  The    sour    cherry  •  The    peach  •  The 

apricot -The  orange   and  the    lemon  •  The    banana  •  The    pineapple  •  The 

grape  •  The  strawberry  •  The  raspberry  •  The  blackberry  •  The  melon . 

Miscellaneous  fruits 

The  list  of  fruits  is  an  exceedingly  long  one.  What  we  popu- 
larly call  a  fruit  is,  in  general,  not  the  seed,  but  rather  the  fleshy 
developed  parts  about  the  seed  or  seeds.  For  example,  in  the 
apple  the  whole  pericarp  or  seed  envelope  takes  on  an  extreme 
development,  entirely  and  somewhat  uniformly  surrounding  the 
seed  capsules  with  a  juicy  fleshy  growth.  In  the  strawberry  it 
is  the  receptacle  on  which  the  mass  of  seeds  is  attached  that 
develops  into  the  edible  part.  In  the  raspberry  each  individual 
seed  is  surrounded  by  a  juicy  growth  similar  to  that  of  the  peach, 
while  the  receptacle  is  left  behind  as  the  fruit  leaves  it,  like  a 
cap  comes  off  the  head.  In  the  blackberry  each  seed  develops 
its  fleshy  envelope,  like  the  raspberry,  but  the  receptacle  comes 
off  with  the  fruit,  as  in  the  strawberry. 

*"  The  apple  (Malus  malus).  This  best  of  all  the  fruits  has 
been  long  in  cultivation,  specimens  of  several  varieties  having 
been  found  in  the  remains  of  the  lake  dwellers,  previous  to  the 
bronze  age.  These  were  small  fruits,  however,  measuring  only 
from  an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  diameter  and  undoubt- 
edly gathered  from  the  wild.  The  fruit  has  therefore  improved 
somewhat  since  these  days,  certainly  in  size  and  most  likely  in 
flavor  as  well. 

The  apple  was  cultivated  by  the  Greeks  under  the  name  of 
melon  and  by  the  Latins  as  malus,  clearly  the  same  name  ;»but 

1  See  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  chapter  on  Mutation  ;  also  "  Evolution  of 
our  Native  Fruits,"  by  Bailey. 

267 


268        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

the  Basque  sagara  indicates  a  name  independent  of  Aryan  influ- 
ence. Being  an  ancient  Iberian  people,  the  inference  is  warranted 
that  the  apple  was  cultivated  there  before  the  Aryan  invasion. 

Candolle  makes  the  broad  statement  that  the  apple  grows 
wild  "  throughout  Europe,  excepting  in  the  extreme  north,"  as 
well  as  to  the  south  of  the  Caucasus  and  certain  districts  of 
Persia.  At  Trebizond,  in  Asiatic  Turkey,  the  botanist  Bourgeau 
is  reported  to  have  seen  "quite  a  small  forest"  of  apples,  and 
there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  tree  grows  wild  in  the 
mountainous  parts  of  northwestern  India. 

The  readiness  with  which  the  apple  escapes  from  cultivation 
and  "  runs  wild  "  makes  it  difficult  to  set  original  limits  to  its 
habitat,  but  botanists  and  fruit  men  are  quite  agreed,  I  think, 
that  this  great  fruit  is  a  native  of  southeastern  Europe  and  the 
contiguous  regions. 

Besides  the  malus  proper  we  have  the  wild  crab  apples,  grow- 
ing in  various  parts  of  the  north-temperate  regions.  The  Siberian 
crab  {Pynis  baccatd)  has  not  only  been  semidomesticated,  but  has 
been  hybridized  with  the  common  apple,  giving  Pyrus pnmifolia, 
with  a  foliage,  as  the  name  indicates,  resembling  that  of  the 
plum.  In  this  connection  it  ought  to  be  remarked  that  the  crab 
apples  of  all  species  and  varieties  are  inferior  to  the  common 
apple,  fit  only  for  cooking,  or  eating  fresh  when  nothing  better 
is  available.  The  foliage  and  bloom,  however,  are  so  abundant 
and  so  beautiful  that  the  crab  has  become  a  favorite  tree  for 
ornamental  planting. 

America  has  no  less  than  five  native  apples,  all  crabs. ^  The 
largest  of  these  is  the  Oregon  crab,  which  ranges  from  northern 
California  to  Alaska,  and  is  a  real  tree,  often  reaching  a  height 

1  "  Evolution  of  our  Native  Fruits,"  pp.  249-273.  This  fascinating  book  is  one 
of  Bailey's  best,  and  should  find  a  place  on  the  shelves  of  every  school  library. 
It  gives  a  full  account  of  the  wild  native  fruits  of  North  America,  and  is  not 
onljt  a  mine  of  information  but  a  source  of  inspiration  as  well.  Its  reading 
cannot  fail  to  inspire  the  student  through  the  wealth  of  natural  resources  in 
plant  life,  and  it  is  fortunate  that  the  study  could  be  made  in  America  before, 
as  in  the  rest  of  the  world,  it  should  be  too  late. 


ORIGIN  OF  CULTIVATED  FRUITS  269 

of  forty  feet.  The  fruit  is  three  fourths  of  an  inch  or  less  in 
diameter,  is  often  gathered  by  the  Indians,  and  was  used  by  the 
early  settlers  in  making  jelly. 

Two  species  of  wild  crab  are  found  in  the  Mississippi  valley 
and  eastward,  one  in  the  north  (Pyrjis  coronafid)  and  one  in  the 
south  {Pyrus  aligns tif olid),  one  in  the  prairie  states  westward 
{Py7iis  loensis),  and  another  known  as  the  Soulard  crab,  named 
from  the  originator,  J.  G.  Soulard  of  Galena,  Illinois.  The  origr 
inal  was  discovered  in  an  apple  thicket  near  St.  Louis  and  sent  to 
Mr.  Soulard,  who  propagated  it  by  grafting  in  a  crab.  Whether 
it  is  a  mutant  or  chance  seedling  from  real  native  stock,  or 
whether  it  is  a  hybrid  with  the  common  apple,  is  not  of  course 
known,  but  is  generally,  I  think,  considered  as  the  latter. 

These  apples  are  used  only  for  cooking,  especially  jelly  mak- 
ing, and  occasionally  for  cider.  They  will  not  compare  in  quality 
with  the  Pyrus  mains,  although  it  should  be  understood  that 
this  species  is  propagated  only  by  grafts,  the  seedlings  being  in 
most  cases  worthless. 

The  Indians  made  what  use  they  could  of  the  wild  apple,  and 
upon  the  advent  of  the  white  man  adopted  the  common  apple 
and  made  much  of  it,  both  in  North  and  South  America, 
where  remains  of  old  Indian  orchards  still  exist,  even  in  so  old 
a  region  as  western  New  York. 

The  pear  {Pyrus  communis).  This  fruit  grows  wild  over  the 
whole  of  temperate  Europe  and  western  Asia,  and  its  closely 
related  species,  Pyrtcs  sinensis,  extends  into  Mongolia  and  Man- 
churia. In  its  native  country  it  grows  as  a  forest  tree,  particularly 
in  France,  where  the  greatest  improvement  has  been  effected, 
and  from  whence  most  of  our  best  varieties  have  come.  America 
has  no  native  pear. 

This  fruit  was  cultivated  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans  and 
occasionally  gathered  with  other  wild  fruits  by  the  lake  dwellers^ 
but  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  was  cultivated  by  ancient  peoples. 
^  The  plum.  Of  this  favorite  fruit  we  have  two  broadly  differ- 
ent strains,  the  European  {Pmnus  domestica),  and  the  American 


.270        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

{Prunus  americana),  with  its  variations,  from  which  many  of  our 
best  cultivated  varieties  are  descended. 

Plums  were  cultivated  by  the  Romans,  but  were  not  known 
to  the  lake  dwellers  or  other  ancient  people.  They  have  been 
cultivated,  too,  in  China  from  early  times,  but  the  original  stock 
has  not  been  certainly  identified,  though  related  species  grew 
wild  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Caucasus  and  in  the  western 
forests  of  the  Chinese  empire. 

The  plum  was  native  in  all  the  northern  United  States,  and 
every  pioneer  has  satisfied  his  "fruit  tooth"  and  graced  his  table 
many  times  from  the  stock  found  growing  along  the  river  bottoms 
everywhere.  Strangely  enough,  according  to  Bailey,^  our  best 
authority,  no  commercial  variety  has  ever  been  developed  from 
northern  native  stock  east  of  Michigan,  but  the  wild  plums  to 
the  south  and  west  have  been  prolific  of  good  varieties.  This 
was  probably  because  the  cultivated  European  sorts  succeeded 
well  in  the  north,  making  resort  to  the  wild  unnecessary,  while 
from  Virginia  south  they  were  not  satisfactory.  Here  resort  was 
naturally  back  to  the  wild.  Thus  necessity  is  the  mother  not 
only  of  invention  but  of  domestication  as  well.  The  Miner  was 
produced  in  Tennessee ;  the  Robinson  in  North  Carolina ;  the 
Wayland  "came  up"  in  a  plum  thicket  in  Kentucky;  the  Golden 
Beauty  was  "  found  wild  "  in  Texas  ;  the  Pottawattamie  in  Ten- 
nessee ;  and  the  Newman  in  Kentucky.  The  Wolf  originated  from 
seed  gathered  from  wild  trees  in  Iowa,  and  the  Rollingstone  was 
"  found  "  on  the  banks  of  Rollingstone  Creek  in  Minnesota.^ 

Every  boy  knows  that  certain  trees  or  bushes  produce  nuts 
or  fruits  much  better  than  others  of  the  same  species.  Every 
neighborhood  that  grows  wild  fruit  of  any  kind  has  its  trees 
or  bushes  which  yield  fruit  of  superior  size  or  flavor,  or  both. 
It  is  from  such  as  these  that  many  new  varieties  have  sprung, 
a  fact  to  be  borne  in  mind  when  we  come  to  the  discussion  of 
mutation  later  on. 

1  "Evolution  of  our  Cultivated  Fruits,"  p.  170. 

2  "  Principles  of  Breeding,"  p.  133. 


ORIGIN  OF  CULTIVATED  FRUITS  27 1 

The  sour  cherry  {Prunus  cerasus).  The  student  will  not  fail  to 
notice  the  close  relationship  granted  the  plums  and  the  cherries 
in  putting  these  seemingly  very  different  fruits  in  the  same  genus. 
This  illustrates  one  of  the  troubles  of  the  botanists,  for  there  also 
belong  in  the  same  goodly  company  the  chokecherries  and  the 
wild,  black,  and  red  cherries,  that  grow  upon  branching  stems 
like  currants. 

While  America  has  some  of  these  so-called  wild  cherries, 
they  have  never  yielded  to  attempts  at  amelioration,  and  we  are 
dependent  upon  foreign  species  for  our  fruits. 

The  species  given  above  is  undoubtedly  a  native  of  Asia  Minor, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Caspian,  and  its  allied  species,  the 
bird  cherry  (Prunus  avium),  from  which  our  white  and  black 
varieties  are  developed,  is  wild  in  Persia  and  the  hilly  regions  to 
the  west  as  far  even  as  Algeria.  We  will  not  enter  into  the  dis- 
pute as  to  whether  these  two  species  are  distinct,  or  whether  the 
former  has  been  developed  from  the  latter,  such  discussions 
having  lost  much  of  their  interest  in  recent  days,  since  we  have 
learned  how  quickly  new  forms  may  rise  from  others  and  pre- 
sent differences  that  any  botanist,  not  knowing  the  history,  would 
call  specific. 

Curiously  enough,  the  cherry  succeeds  wonderfully  as  an 
ornamental  plant  in  Japan,  where  it  flowers  profusely  but 
rarely  fruits. 

^  The  peach  {Amygdalus  persica).  This  delicious  fruit  is  a 
strange  customer  in  our  orchards.  A  kind  of  mean  between  a 
bush  and  a  tree,  it  yields  one  of  the  most  toothsome  fruits 
known  to  the  palate.  Its  strangeness  consists  in  its  relation  to 
another  fruit,  the  nectarine,  which  closely  resembles  the  peach, 
except  that  instead  of  the  downy  covering,  it  is  smooth  like 
the  plum. 

The  strange  part  of  it  is  that  peaches  and  nectarines  often 
grow  upon  the  same  tree ;  that  is,  a  tree  or  a  part  of  a  tree 
that  has  always  borne  peaches  may  suddenly  begin  to  bear  nec- 
tarines, after  which  it  may  produce  either  peaches  or  nectarines. 


272         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

If  these  nectarines  be  planted,  the  seed  will  produce  not  peaches, 
as  a  rule,  but  nectarines.^ 

This  observation  of  Darwin's,  early  confirmed  by  later  obser- 
vations, came  at  a  time  when  botanists,  after  much  discussion, 
had  about  decided  to  put  the  nectarine  in  a  separate  species  from 
the  peach.  The  fact,  however,  that  nectarines  are  often  pro- 
duced on  the  same  tree  with  peaches,  and  often  by  a  limb  that 
in  other  years  also  grows  peaches,  —  this  fact,  when  clearly 
proved,  put  a  stop  to  the  discussion,  and  not  only  ended  a  puz- 
zling debate,  but  showed  also  that  specific  lines  cannot  always 
be  clearly  drawn.  The  nectarine  is  therefore  recognized  as  a 
sport,  or,  more  properly,  a  mutant  of  the  peach,  because  it 
arises  not  once  but  many  times  from  that  fruit.  Incidentally 
we  learn  by  this  that  new  strains  may  arise  from  old  stock 
repeatedly,  and  that  certain  combinations  of  plant  and  animal 
characters  are  constantly  giving  off  new  strains  or  species  ^ 
represented  by  essentially  new  combinations. 

As  indicated  by  the  name,  the  peach  has  been  generally 
credited  to  Persia,  from  whence  it  was  introduced  into  European 
cultivation  shortly  after  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.^ 
This  is  not,  however,  proof  of  its  Persian  origin,  neither  is  the 
fact  of  its  being  found  wild  in  many  districts  of  western  Asia ; 
for,  like  the  orange,  it  easily  escapes,  and  when  it  does  so  the 
seedlings  are  exceedingly  inferior. 

As  no  name  for  the  peach  is  found  either  in  Hebrew  or  San- 
skrit, Candolle  is  inclined  to  give  the  peach  a  Chinese  origin, 
consigning  it  to  that  limbo  of  all  unknown  and  untraceable 
things,  central  Asia. 

1  "  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,"  Vol.  I,  p.  361. 

2  The  term  "  species  "  is  here  used  not  in  its  narrow  biological  sense,  but 
in  the  wider  sense  of  strains  that  are  sufficiently  constant  to  breed  among 
themselves. 

8  It  is  notable  that  the  very  ancient  people  seemed  to  have  confined  their 
agriculture  to  the  production  of  necessary  grains,  and  that  the  luxury  of  fruits 
and  toothsome  delicacies  belonged  to  later  times  and  more  luxurious  living 
generally. 


ORIGIN  OF  CULTIVATED  FRUITS  273 

Darwin,  however,  presents  some  excellent  arguments  for 
assuming  that  the  peach  is  exceedingly  new  upon  the  earth, 
and  possibly  has  never  been  truly  wild,  but  developed  from 
the  almond  {Amygdaliis  commtmis),  which  grows  wild,  or  half 
wild,  in  the  warmer  regions  of  the  Mediterranean  and  in  western 
Asia.  This  argument  is  extremely  fascinating,  and  even  more 
convincing  now  than  in  the  days  when  it  was  first  presented. 
It  is  too  long  to  be  repeated  here,  and  should  be  read  in  the 
original.^  Briefly,  he  finds  that  the  space  between  the  almond 
and  its  near  relative,  the  peach,  is  not  wide,  and  is  often,  more- 
over, nearly  bridged  by  inferior  specimens  of  the  seedling  peach. 
Not  only  is  this  true  but  occasionally  the  almond  will  bear  un- 
usually fleshy  fruit  approaching  a  poor  peach.  Evidently  the 
whole  group  —  peaches,  nectarines,  and  almonds  —  is  an  ex- 
ceedingly miscellaneous  lot,  not  yet  having  settled  down  into 
distinctive  lines,  if,  indeed,  they  ever  do  become  fixed  and 
measurably  inflexible.  In  any  event,  until  then  they  will  con- 
tinue to  bother  the  botanist. 

The  apricot  {Prumis  armeniaca).  The  apricot  is  related  to 
the  plum  somewhat  as  the  peach  is  to  the  nectarine,  with  two 
important  differences.  The  apricot  is  essentially  a  plum  with  a 
downy  covering,  as  the  nectarine  is  a  peach  with  the  covering 
off ;  but  the  smooth  form  is  the  more  common  in  the  plum,  as 
the  downy  peach  is  more  common  than  the  smooth  nectarine. 
Again,  the  apricot  is  known  in  the  wild  state  as  a  distinct  self- 
perpetuating  species.  No  man  has  detected  a  mutation  either 
way  between  the  apricot  and  the  plum,  and  yet  the  consistent 
evolutionist  must  recognize  the  same  fundamental  relations  be- 
tween the  two,  except  that  in  the  case  of  the  apricot  and  the 
plum  the  mutant  is  able  to  maintain  itself  indefinitely  as  a 
distinct  species,  which  clearly  the  nectarine  is  unable  to  do, 
although  nectarine  seeds  produce  nectarines  freely.  The  strain 
is  evidently  an  erratic  one,  not  easily  maintained  in  nature  for 

1  "Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  358-360. 


274        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

any  considerable  length  of  time,  and  would  soon  become  extinct 
were  it  not  constantly  renewed.  Whether  the  apricot  is  a  mu- 
tant from  the  plum,  or  the  reverse,  we  could  now  only  speculate, 
but  from  general  reasoning  we  should  regard  the  apricot  as  the 
original  stock  and  the  plum  the  mutant.^ 

'  The  orange  and  the  lemon.  These  two  popular  tropical  fruits 
belong  to  a  tangled  group  covered  by  the  generic  name  Citrus, 
and  including  also  the  lime  and  the  shaddock.  While  their 
original  has  not  been  identified  in  the  wild,  their  origin  is  uni- 
versally credited  to  eastern  Asia,  probably  China.  The  principal 
strains  of  this  genus  are  as  follows  : 

The  citron  {Citrus  me  die  a  proper),  a  large  nonspherical  fruit 
with  an  aromatic  rind  and  a  moderate  amount  of  not  very  acid 
juice. 

The  shaddock,  or  grapefruit  {Citrus  deeumana),  large  and 
round,  juicy,  slightly  acid,  extensively  cultivated  in  southern 
Asia  and  in  the  tropics  generally. 

The  lemon  {Citrus  mediea  limonum),  juice  decidedly  acid. 

The  lime  {Citrus  mediea  aeida),  like  the  lemon,  but  much 
smaller  ;  juice  very  acid. 

The  orange  {Citrus  aurantium),  in  two  varieties,  bitter  and 
sweet,  of  which  the  latter  is  the  cultivated,  and  of  which  the 
tangerine  and  the  mandarin  are  minor  strains  distinguished  by 
the  easily  separated  rind,  and  for  this  reason  often  called  "  kid- 
glove  oranges." 

The  citrous  fruits  have  a  pronounced  acid  quality  and  a  lurking 
tendency  to  be  bitter,  a  tendency  that  crops  out  strongest  in  the 
bitter  orange,  which  is  wild,  and  in  the  shaddock,  which  is  culti- 
vated.2   These  fruits  have  been  long  in  cultivation,  as  fruits  go, 

1  This  is  because  the  mutant  is  more  commonly  destitute  of  some  character 
that  is  present  in  the  original.  Nearly  every  pubescent  species,  too,  has  its 
smooth  variety,  which  in  some  cases  succeeds  better  than  the  original.  The 
fact  that  we  do  not  see  the  mutation  is  no  argument  that  it  has  not  taken 
place.  Plain  wheat,  for  example,  has  certainly  arisen  from  the  bearded,  which 
is  to  be  regarded  as  the  original  stock.   See  further  in  the  chapter  on  Mutation. 

2  It  may  be  added  that  the  common  orange  easily  escapes  from  cultivation, 
in  which  case  most  of  the  trees  bear  insipid  fruit,  a  few  bitter,  and  occasionally 


ORIGIN  OF  CULTIVATED  FRUITS  275 

names  for  some  of  them  being  found  in  the  Sanskrit.  The  mild 
acid  varieties  seem  to  have  first  attracted  attention,  the  sweet 
orange  seemingly  being  the  most  recent  of  all,  though  now  the 
most  popular  in  the  West,  where  it  has  been  greatly  improved. 

The  banana  (Musa  sapientum),  literally  the  food  of  the  wise, 
from  an  old  tradition  that  this  was  the  special  food  of  the 
Hindu  philosophers.  Its  near  relative,  the  plantain,  sometimes 
reckoned  as  a  separate  species,  Mtisa  paradisiaca,  is  larger 
and  coarser  than  the  banana  and  generally  requires  cooking 
for  the  best  results. 

The  banana  is  without  doubt  native  to  the  lower  regions  of 
southeastern  Asia  and  the  outlying  islands,  where  it  has  been 
cultivated  from  antiquity.  It  was  early  known  to  the  Greeks, 
Latins,  and  Arabs  as  an  Indian  fruit,  but  the  only  ancient 
names  are  in  Sanskrit.  The  ancient  Egyptians  and  Hebrews 
did  not  know  the  plant,  which  Candolle  considers  to  be  a  sign 
that  its  cultivation  cannot  be  regarded  as  remote. 

Whether  the  banana  is  also  native  to  Africa  and  the  New 
World  is  yet  a  matter  of  uncertainty.  It  was  certainly  known  in 
both  continents  at  a  very  early  day,  and  Stanley,  as  well  as  earlier 
explorers,  found  the  banana  and  the  plantain  both  cultivated 
and  wild  in  the  depths  of  the  Kongo.  The  plant  almost  never 
bears  seeds. 

The  pineapple  {Ananassa  sativa).  Without  doubt  this  is  truly 
an  American  plant,  native  in  the  regions  of  the  Orinoco  and 
northward.  It  was  of  course  unknown  till  the  discovery  of  the 
New  World,  but  has  since  spread  rapidly  over  all  subtropical 
countries.  It  is  clearly  the  finest  tropical  fruit  when  had  at  its 
best,  which  is  rare. 

The  grape.  The  cultivated  grape  of  to-day  comes  from  two 
distinctly  different  sources,  one  the  Old  World,  the  other 
the  New. 

one  bears  fruit  of  a  good  quality.  The  writer  speaks  from  experience  in  this, 
for  it  was  his  habit  in  riding  over  the  mountains  in  eastern  South  America  to 
depend  upon  the  wild  orange  for  refreshment.  The  trees  bearing  good  fruit 
could  readily  be  told  at  a  distance. 


270 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


The  grape  has  been  cultivated  from  ancient  times  and  is 
beUeved  by  many  to  be  our  oldest  fruit.    Noah,  good  old  man 


Fig.  48.    The  wild  persimmon  of  the  South.    With  attention  it 
might  rival  the  grape  in  valuable  varieties 

as  he  was,  lost  his  head  over  the  fruit  of  the  vine,^  and  he  has 
been  followed  by  many  less  worthy  successors. 

The  Phoenicians  are  credited  with  the  introduction  of  the 
grape  into  Europe,  where  more  than  fifteen  hundred  varieties 

1  Genesis  ix. 


ORIGIN  OF  CULTIVATED  FRUITS  277 

are  grown,  all  descended  from  a  single  species,  Vitis  viiiifera, 
supposed  to  be  indigenous  to  Asia. 

Curiously  enough,  these  European  cultivated  varieties  failed 
utterly  to  grow  in  the  eastern  United  States,  ^  and  our  early  fore- 
fathers suffered  much  extremity,  or  thought  they  did,  by  their 
inability  to  grow  the  European  grape  for  wine,  some  good  chron- 
iclers going  so  far  as  to  express  a  doubt  if  the  Creator  had  ever 
intended  such  a  country  for  human  habitation. 

Failing  2  in  the  attempts  to  grow  the  European  grapes,  the 
settlers  naturally  turned  their  attention  to  the  native  species  that 
clambered  everywhere  and  that  early  attracted  attention.  Thus 
Captain  John  Smith,  for  example,  in  the  quaint  language  of  the 
times  (1607- 1 609)  writes  of  the  wild  grapes  of  Virginia  that  they 
*'  climbe  the  toppes  of  the  highest  trees" ;  and  speaking  of  the 
fruit,  he  says,  "  They  bee  fatte  and  the  iuyce  thicke :  neither 
doth  the  tast  so  well  please  when  they  are  made  in  wine."  ^  From 
which  we  see  that  the  attention  of  the  time  was  mainly  upon  wine. 

''America  is  the  land  of  the  grape,"  says  Bailey,^  who  lists  no 
less  than  twenty-two  distinct  species  and  thirteen  varieties  of 
grape  native  to  the  United  States.  The  principal  species  are  the 
following,  which,  directly  or  through  their  hybrids  with  the  Old 
World  wine  grape,  V.  vinifera,  have  given  rise  to  our  common 
American  cultivated  varieties,  distinguished  by  their  round,  juicy, 
many-seeded  fruits  as  distinct  from  the  fleshy  European  (now 
California)  species  : 

I .  Vitis  rotundifolia,  the  muscadine  or  Southern  fox  grape.^ 
Delaware  to  Florida  and  west  to  Kansas  and  Texas,  and  parent 
of  the  large  musky  Scuppernong. 

1  This  was  due,  as  we  now  know,  to  certain  diseases  that  killed  the  leaves, 
probably  the  downy  mildew  and  black  rot.  These  grapes  have  been  since  grown 
out  of  doors  in  California  for  raisins,  wine,  and  for  shipping,  and  they  appear 
on  our  markets  now  as  the  thick-meated  "  California  grapes." 

2  The  story  of  this  failure  is  finely  told  by  Bailey  in  his  "  The  Evolution  of 
our  Native  Fruits." 

3  "  Evolution  of  our  Native  Fruits,"  p.  4. 

4  Ibid.,  pp.  98-117. 

^  Called  by  Gray,  Vitis  vulpina. 


278        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

2.  Vitis  labrusca,  the  northern  fox  or  skunk  grape.  New 
England  and  southward  to  Georgia  along  the  Allegheny  high- 
lands. Parent  of  the  Catawba,  Concord,  Isabella,  Worden,  and 
most  of  our  commonly  cultivated  varieties. 

3.  Vitis  vtdpina,  the  river-bank  or  frost  grape,  commonly 
known  as  Vitis  riparia.  It  is  the  common  wild  grape  of  the 
northern  states  east  of  the  Mississippi,  frequently  hybridizes 
naturally  with  V.  labnisca  eastward,  where  they  overlap,  and  is 
the  parent  of  the  Clinton,  Elvira,  Pearl,  and  others.^ 

The  unrivaled  Catawba  was  found  wild  in  the  woods  of 
extreme  western  North  Carolina  in  1842.  It  is  the  great 
grape  wherever  it  can  be  grown,  and  its  seedling,  the  Diana, 
is  an  oldtime  favorite. 

A  year  later  the  Concord  was  discovered  among  some  wild 
grapes  that  sprung  up  about  the  residence  of  Ephraim  Bull  at 
Concord,  Massachusetts.  The  writer  saw  the  original  vine  a 
few  days  ago  (August,  1908)  still  growing  by  the  little  old  home- 
stead, just  beyond  the  homes  of  Hawthorne  and  the  Alcotts. 

From  the  Concord  have  sprung  the  Worden,  Moores  Early, 
Pocklington,  Eaton,  and  Rockland,  of  which  the  two  first  are 
famous.  In  the  same  way  the  Clinton  and  many  other  strains 
have  come  directly  from  the  wild  within  the  lifetime  of  men 
yet  living,  and  many,  by  hybridizing,  have  given  rise  to  yet  other 
successful  varieties.  In  this  way  have  all  the  varieties  of  grapes 
grown  in  eastern  or  middle  United  States  been  produced  directly 
from  the  wild  and  within  the  last  generation. 

The  thick-meated  European  grapes  were  found  to  succeed  in 
California,  and  they  now  reach  our  tables  from  the  fruit  stands. 
However  high  in  quality  and  however  valuable  for  raisins  or  for 
wine,  I  am  sure  that  the  average  palate  prefers  the  juicy  varieties, 
developed  though  but  recently  from  the  native  stock  of  the 
American  forest. 

1  The  student  is  urged  to  pursue  further  in  the  admirable  work  of  Bailey, 
"Origin  of  our  Native  Fruits,"  pp.  1-126,  the  history,  characteristics,  and 
development  of  this  greatest  of  American  fruits. 


ORIGIN  OF  CULTIVATED  FRUITS  279 

The  strawberry.  The  United  States,  like  Europe  from  Lap- 
land to  the  Mediterranean,  was  well  stocked  with  wild  straw- 
berries. A  good  start  had  been  made  in  an  early  day  toward 
developing  garden  varieties  from  this  source,  and  the  writer  has 
eaten  freely  in  boyhood  of  such  varieties. 

Before  final  results  were  at  hand,  however,  and  before  the 
best  use  had  been  made  of  this  native  stock,  ^  a  new  species  from 
Chile  had  been  introduced  into  England,  and  from  there  to  this 
country,  where  it  has  become  the  parent  of  all  commercial  varie- 
ties, wholly  displacing  the  races  developed  from  the  native  stock. 
The  Chilean  species  extends  into  our  own  western  mountains,  but 
fails  to  succeed  when  brought  directly  from  there  to  the  East. 

The  strawberry  is  widely  scattered  over  the  earth,  a  fact  due 
partly  to  its  cosmopolitan  character  and  partly  to  the  facility 
with  which  birds  scatter  the  seeds,  in  which  respect  this  fruit 
is  equaled  by  few  and  surpassed  by  none. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  strawberry  is  one  of  the  newest 
of  additions  to  cultivated  plants,  dating  in  all  probability  not  back 
of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  is  difficult  to  realize  how  so  luscious 
a  fruit  should  be  so  long  neglected,  except  upon  the  assumption 
that  in  its  present  form  it  has  not  long  existed. 

The  raspberry.  Europe  supports  many  varieties  of  Rubus 
idcBus,  both  red  and  white,  but,  like  the  grape,  they  all  proved 
unsuited  to  American  conditions,  and,  as  before,  recourse  was 
had  to  the  wild.  Naturally  the  early  efforts  were  directed  to  the 
red  berries,  following  the  European  type,  and  later  to  the  black 
caps,  which  upon  acquaintance  immediately  took  the  lead. 

The  real  cultivation  of  native  American  raspberries  dates, 
according  to  Bailey,^  not  earlier  than  i860,  when  L.  F.  Allen 
of  New  York  sent  out  two  red  varieties,  Allen's  Red  Prolific 
and  Allen's  Antwerp,  which  were  "merely  accidental  varieties  of 

1  It  is  an  open  question  whether  the  wild  red  strawberry  of  the  eastern 
United  States  is  identical  with  the  Fragaria  vesca  of  Europe.  The  difference  is 
evidently  slight,  but  enough  to  lead  some  botanists  to  give  it  a  separate  name, — 
sometimes  Fragaria  virginiana  and  again  Fragaria  americana. 

2  "  Evolution  of  our  Native  Fruits,"  p.  286. 


28o        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

the  wild  raspberry  of  his  locaHty."  ^  By  1867,  however,  the  red 
varieties  had  increased  to  six,  the  black  caps  had  been  intro- 
duced under  eleven  varieties,  one  of  which  was  an  albino,  and  a 
series  of  purple  varieties  numbering  five  had  come  into  favor. 

The  black  cap  has  always  been  the  American  favorite  among 
raspberries,  and  it  is  right  that  the  name  of  the  man  to  whom 
we  owe  its  introduction  should  become  a  household  word  wherever 
the  raspberry  is  eaten.  Ic  was  Nicholas  Longworth^  of  Cincin- 
nati, who,  as  Professor  Bailey  puts  it,  was  "  the  same  prophetic 
spirit  that  put  American  grape  growing  on  its  feet."  The  first 
of  these  black- cap  varieties  was  the  Everbearing,  which,  by 
Mr.  Longworth's  account,  he  "  found"  in  Ohio  in  full  fruit  and 
brought  it  into  his  garden,  where  it  supplied  his  table  "  from 
the  beginning  of  June  until  frost." 

The  story  of  the  raspberry  is  a  story  for  the  poetic  historian, 
as  it  is  also  for  the  student  of  natural  history  and  the  farmer ; 
indeed,  the  story  of  the  civilization  of  any  great  fruit  or  food  crop 
is  a  chapter  in  the  history  of  creation  that  any  man  may  be 
proud  to  write  and  grateful  to  read.  The  temptation  to  dwell  on 
fascinating  details  is  almost  overpowering,  there  is  so  much  of 
human  life  and  divine  inspiration  in  it  all ;  but  it  is  quite  aside 
from  the  present  purpose,  which  is  only  to  give  a  hasty  outline 
sketch  supplementary  to  the  chief  purpose  in  hand. 

The  blackberry.  This  close  relative  of  the  raspberry  is  not 
cultivated  in  the  Old  World,  and  nothing  in  the  genus  Riibus  is 
mentioned  by  Candolle.  The  blackberry  grows  wild  in  Europe, 
but,  like  our  huckleberry,  has  never  been  considered  as  a  candi- 
date for  cultivation. 

It  gave  much  trouble  in  America  before  it  would  yield  to  the 
blandishments  of  the  cultivator.  Though  flourishing  remarkably 
in  the  wild  over  nearly  all  the  eastern  United  States  both  north 
and  south,  it  has  been  so  shy  of  civilization  that  Professor  Card 
has  called  it  the  "  gypsy  of  the  fruits,"  a  name  it  undoubtedly 

1  "  Evolution  of  our  Native  Fruits,"  pp.  287-289. 

'^  The  great-grandfather  of  the  present  Congressman  Longworth. 


ORIGIN  OF  CULTIVATED  FRUITS  28 1 

deserves,  for  much  labor  and  expense  were  bestowed  on  these 
shade-loving  berries  before  varieties  were  developed  that  would 
thrive  at  all  in  the  open. 

But  the  troubles  of  the  cultivators  were  fully  equaled  by  those 
of  the  botanists,  who  have  floundered  in  a  sea  of  confusion  in  the 
endeavor  to  fix  lines  of  classification  that  would  separate  and  de- 
scribe all  the  forms  of  these  exceedingly  variable  races,  which 
range  all  the  way  from  the  high-bush  blackberry  of  the  northern 
"clearings  "  to  the  creeping  dewberries  of  the  open,  both  of  which 
have  finally  yielded  to  cultivation  and  given  useful  varieties,  but 
only  well  within  the  recollection  of  men  yet  in  middle  age. 

This  confusion  grew  worse  instead  of  better  till  Bailey  (1898) 
untangled  the  matter  and  proposed  names  and  descriptions, 
which,  for  the  first  time,  fix  the  botanical  character  of  our  native 
and  cultivated  blackberries.^ 

The  cultivated  varieties  trace  to  two  strains  of  a  single  species, 
though  many  others  are  described  and  named,  merging  by  almost 
imperceptible  gradations  into  the  dewberries.  These  two  strains 
are  the  following : 

1.  Riibus  nigrobacciis,  the  Rubus  villosns  of  many.  This  is 
the  common  high-bush,  long-clustered,  rich-flavored  blackberry 
of  the  northern  woods  and  clearings,  extending  as  far  south  as 
the  mountains  of  North  Carolina  and  as  far  west  as  Kansas. 
The  fruit  of  this  species  is  the  best  of  all  the  blackberries,  and  is 
preferred  by  all  lovers  of  fruit,  from  birds  on  the  one  hand  to 
bears  and  boys  upon  the  other.  It  was  exceedingly  shy  of  civi- 
lization, but  has  consented  to  produce  a  few  varieties,  of  which 
the  Taylor  and  Ancient  Britain  are  considered  by  Bailey  to  be 
examples. 

2.  Riibjis  nigrobacciis  var.  sativus,  the  short-clustered,  loose- 
seeded  blackberry  of  the  open  fields.  Strangely  enough,  however, 

1  This  matter  is  discussed  here  at  some  Httle  length,  partly  to  fix  names, 
but  more  especially  to  show  the  student  the  troubles  of  classification, 
troubles  that  arise  by  the  overlapping  of  closely  related  strains.  The  full 
text  of  Bailey's  excellent  work  will  be  found  in  "  Evolution  of  our  Native 
Fruits,"  pp.  366-385. 


282        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

it  is  this  wonderful  ''  nondescript "  berry,  with  its  inferior  fruit, 
that  yielded  best  to  cultivation  and  has  given  us  the  most  of 
our  cultivated  varieties,  of  which  the  Snyder  and  Kittatinny 
are  examples.^ 

Besides  these  there  is  the  so-called  "  white  blackberry" 
{Rtibus  nigrobacctis  var.  albintis),  an  albino  variety  midway 
between  the  main  strain  and  the  sativus,  with  the  habits  of 
growth  and  quality  of  fruit  closely  resembling  the  former,  but 
of  especially  fine  quality .^ 

The  melon.  Dear  to  the  heart  and  palate  of  every  boy  is 
the  melon.  It  exists  in  two  well-marked  and  distinct  species, 
belonging  even  to  different  genera : 

I.  The  muskmelon,  or  cantaloupe  {Cucumis  meld),  is  certainly 
native  both  in  Beluchistan  and  westward,  on  the  coast  of  Guinea, 
and  in  central  Africa  and  eastward.  In  the  wild  the  fruit  varies 
from  the  size  of  a  plum  to  that  of  a  lemon,  and  is  commonly 
extremely  insipid.  This  generally  unpromising  character  is 
probably  responsible  for  the  fact  that  the  melon  was  not  culti- 
vated in  early  times  ;  indeed,  it  was  not  until  our  own  day  that 
really  excellent  varieties  have  been  established,  —  all  of  which 
goes  to  show  the  power  of  cultivation  and  selection  to  work  im- 
provement, and  that  the  wild  plant  often  gives  little  indication 
of  its  hidden  possibilities,  which  quickly  appear  when  once  they 
are  unlocked  and  liberated  by  generous  opportunity. 

1  A  few  cultivated  varieties,  like  the  Wilson  and  Rathbun,  are  considered 
to  be  hybrids  between  the  blackberry  and  the  dewberry  {Rubus  villosus). 

2  Burbank  is  erroneously  credited  with  having  "  produced"  the  white  black- 
berry in  the  sense  of  having  created  it.  Now  the  white  blackberry  is  a  strain, 
probably  a  mutant,  that  frequently  arises,  as  every  woods  boy  knows,  and 
Mr.  Burbank's  "  production  "  consists  in  cultivating  one  or  more  of  the  many 
thousands  of  such  "  sports  "  produced  by  this  great  berry. 

The  student  should  understand  that  nearly  everything  has  its  albino  (white) 
strain,  which  is  altogether  likely  a  mutant  from  the  main  stock.  Thus  we  have 
the  white  blackberry,  strawberry,  raspberry,  currant,  apple,  as  well  as  the  white 
rabbit,  deer,  horse,  cow,  pig,  sheep,  and  so  on,  of  practically  all  species.  With 
the  sheep,  the  white  is  the  favorite  stock,  which  was  also  true  of  the  pig  till 
the  opening  up  of  the  corn  belt  and  the  origin  of  the  Poland  China  breed, 
which  happens  to  be  black. 


ORIGIN  OF  CULTIVATED  FRUITS 


283 


2.  The  watermelon  {Citrullus  vulgaris).  For  once  there  is 
no  doubt  of  nativity.  The  watermelon  is  a  characteristic  contri- 
bution of  the  dark  continent,  and  our  colored  brother  evidently 
comes  honestly  by  his  natural  appetite  for  this  luscious  fruit. 
It  belongs  to  central  Africa  on  both  sides  of  the  equator,  where 
Livingstone  ''  saw  districts  literally  covered  with  it,  and  the  sav- 
ages and  several  kinds  of  wild 
animals  eagerly  devoured  the 
wild  fruit,"  ^  which  is  some- 
times, but  not  generally,  bitter. 
This  fruit  was  certainly  culti- 
vated by  the  ancient  Egyptians, 
but  there  is  no  proof  of  antiquity, 
either  botanical  or  philological, 
except  in  northern  Africa. 

It  would  be  interesting,  in- 
deed, to  follow  the  futures  of 
other  wildlings  under  civiliza- 
tion, such  as  the  cucumber,  the 
pumpkin,  and  the  squash,  but 
it  is  a  long  story  and  would 
lead  us  far  afield.  Inasmuch 
as  our  chief  purpose  here  is  to 
indicate  rather  than  to  exhaust 
a  field,  we  must  content  our 


Fig.  49.    The  huckleberry  —  good 
enough  in  the  wild 


selves  with  a  hasty  glance  at  what  is  really  a  fascinating  prospect. 
Miscellaneous  fruits.  There  are,  however,  a  number  that 
merit  further  study.  The  gooseberry  and  the  currant,  both  in- 
troduced from  Europe,  and  both  also  wild  over  extensive  areas 
of  our  own  country,^  and  which  have  furnished  cultivated  varie- 
ties,  are  other  examples  of  the  fact  that  many  species  are 

1  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,  p.  263. 

2  The  writer  as  a  boy  knew  two  kinds  of  wild  gooseberry,  the  "  prickly " 
and  the  plain,  both  growing  freely  in  the  woods  of  Michigan.  The  latter  was 
often  brought  into  the  gardens  of  the  pioneers  and  successfully  cultivated, 
furnishing,  in  some  cases,  the  principal  fruit  of  the  pioneers. 


284        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

wide-ranging  races  that  may  be,  and  likely  are,  subjected  to 
cultivation  at  very  many  independent  centers. 

Added  to  these  are  many  undeveloped  possibilities  in  unculti- 
vated fruits,  like  the  huckleberry  and  the  cranberry,  which  latter 
is  coming  into  semidomestication  in  order  to  furnish  the  demand 
that  goes  with  the  Thanksgiving  turkey. 

The  tropics  afford  an  almost  endless  variety  of  fruits,  some  of 
them  only  just  rescued  from  the  wild.  The  forests  and  jungles 
of  such  formative  regions  as  the  Amazon  valley  abound  in  fruits 
as  well  as  nuts  in  the  greatest  profusion  and  of  the  greatest 
variety.  The  world  is  being  ransacked  now  for  new  and  valuable 
varieties,  either  cultivated  or  wild,  and  very  much  of  the  work 
of  domestication  of  plants  is  still  going  on  even  in  our  own  day, 
though  it  is  a  question  whether  a  new  animal  will  ever  be  added 
by  domestication.  It  looks  rather  as  if  in  respect  to  animals  we 
should  be  restricted  in  our  possessions  to  what  we  can  achieve 
out  of  the  materials  already  in  hand. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

ORIGIN  OF  FARM  AND  GARDEN  VEGETABLES  AND 
MISCELLANEOUS  PLANTS 

The  potato  •  The  sweet  potato  •  Miscellaneous  tubers  •  Edible  roots  •  The 
onion  •  The  beet  •  Manioc,  or  mandioca  •  The  turnip  •  Miscellaneous  roots  • 
Vegetables  cultivated  for  their  foliage  •  Cabbage  •  Celery  •  Lettuce  •  Aspara- 
gus •  Plants  cultivated  for  beverage  •  Coffee  •  Tea  •  Mate  •  Plants  grown 
for  sedative  effect  •  The  poppy  •  Coca  •  The  betel  •  Tobacco  •  Fiber  plants  • 
-Cotton  •  Flax  •  Hemp  •  Ornamental  plants  •  Weeds 

Many  plants  have  a  habit  of  sending  out  not  only  the  upright 
stems  that  bear  leaves,  but  also  others  that  run  along  just  above 
or  just  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and,  by  branching  or 
sending  out  roots  at  the  joints  here  and  there,  are  able  to  prop- 
agate themselves  without  the  help  of  seeds.  Strawberries  do 
this  with  '' runners"  above  the  ground.  Quack  grass  and  Canada 
thistle  do  the  same,  except  that  the  stems  run  just  below  the  sur- 
face, a  habit  which  makes  these  two  weeds  peculiarly  difficult  to 
eradicate.  Blue  grass  has  the  same  habit,  but,  being  valuable  in- 
stead of  worthless,  we  count  the  custom  a  virtue  and  not  a  vice. 

In  a  few  plants  these  underground  stems  greatly  thicken,  and 
these  thickened  stems,  called  tubers,  are  favorite  foods,  generally 
as  a  source  of  starch. 

4^  The  potato  {Solarium  tuberosum).  The  most  common  and  the 
most  valuable  of  all  plants  of  this  order  is  the  ordinary  Irish 
potato.  Its  name  "  Irish  "  is  a  misnomer, ^  as  it  is  truly  an  Ameri- 
can product,  its  wild  progenitor  still  being  common  along  the 
coast  of  Chile  and  in  the  higher  elevations  to  the  northward. 
Several  closely  related  species  abound  in  the  highlands  of  South 
and  Central  America  as  far  north  as  Mexico,  and  a  not  distantly 

1  Bestowed  from  the  fact  that  the  cessation  of  the  periodic  famine  in  Ireland 
dates  from  the  introduction  of  the  potato. 

285 


286        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

related  species  is  found  as  far  north  as  Colorado,  —  the  Solatium 
rostratum} 

At  the  discovery  of  America  the  potato  was  cultivated  all 
along  the  Andean  slopes  and  plateaus  as  far  north  as  Granada. 
It  was  introduced  into  Europe  by  the  Spaniards,  and  very  likely 
from  them  it  made  its  way  to  the  United  States,  as  it  seems 
not  to  have  been  known  to  the  Indians  until  after  the  discovery 
of  this  country  by  Europeans. ^ 

This  tuber  is  one  of  the  cheapest  and  most  important  foods 
for  man,  and  it  has  done  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  plant  to 
make  famine  in  the  western  world  practically  impossible.  It 
made  little  headway,  however,  until  recent  years,  for  as  late  as 
the  time  of  the  American  Revolution  but  two  varieties  were 
known  in  England,  a  white  and  a  red.  Latterly,  however,  great 
improvements  have  been  made,  largely  within  the  lifetime  of 
men  yet  living.  Varieties  are  now  counted  by  the  hundreds,  and 
any  number  of  new  ones  can  be  produced  at  will,  so  freely  does 
the  species  vary. 

The  sweet  potato  {Ipomoea  batatas).  This  is  not  a  true  potato 
at  all,  but  belongs  to  the  morning-glory  family,  whereas  the 
potato  belongs  to  the  nightshades  ;  moreover,  the  fleshy  parts 
that  are  eaten  are  true  roots,  and  not  thickened  underground 
stems  or  tubers  like  those  of  the  true  potato. 

The  origin  of  the  sweet  potato  is  mysterious.    It  was  un- 
doubtedly found  in  cultivation  in  the  New  World.   Moreover,  of 
the  fifteen  nearest  related  species,  all  are  found  wild  in  America, 
eleven  of  these  are  found  only  there,  while  four  are  found  also  in* 
the  Old  World.    It  was  certainly  not  known  in  Europe  until  after 

1  This  native  sand  bur  was  the  original  food  plant  of  the  Colorado  potato 
beetle,  but  when  the  potato  reached  that  region  the  insect  at  once  adopted  it 
as  a  new  host,  and  it  spread  rapidly  eastward  over  all  the  United  States, 
illustrating  how  quickly  a  wildling  may  change  its  habits  and  greatly  profit  by 
a  new  food  plant. 

2  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  is  often  credited  with  having  introduced  both  tobacco 
and  potatoes  into  England,  having  brought  them  from  Virginia,  but  this  does 
not  mean  that  the  potato  was  native  there,  nor  that  this  was  the  first  introduc- 
tion into  Europe. 


MISCELLANEOUS  PLANTS  287 

the  discovery  of  America.  It  was  unknown  to  both  the  Romans 
and  the  Arabs,  and  was  not  introduced  into  Egypt  until  about 
a  hundred  years  ago.  On  the  other  hand,  Chinese  literature 
mentions  the  cultivation  of  this  plant  as  early  as  the  second  or 
third  century,  all  of  which  is  argument  for  an  Asiatic  origin. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  writer  these  are  ample  grounds  for 
assuming  a  double  origin  of  this  most  useful  plant.  The  simi- 
larity between  the  flora  of  eastern  Asia  and  certain  portions  of 
America  is  one  of  the  best  known  facts  in  natural  history.  So 
valuable  a  plant  as  the  sweet  potato  would  attract  attention  any- 
where, for  all  the  preparation  needed  is  roasting.  Accordingly  it 
would  at  once  be  brought  into  cultivation  by  any  progressive  race, 
and  there  is  every  reason  why  widely  diffused  species  of  this  kind 
should  be  domesticated  not  once  but  many  times,  and  their  culti- 
vation spread  not  from  one  but  from  many  centers.  I  am  of  the 
opinion  that  it  is  both  unnecessary  and  unscientific  to  assume  a 
single  origin  for  every  cultivated  plant.  Species  like  the  oaks, 
growing  widely  scattered  over  the  earth  without  the  aid  of  man, 
are  proof  of  the  wide  diffusion  of  certain  races  by  wholly  natural 
causes.  Given  now  this  same  wide  diffusion  with  evident  natural 
value  to  man,  and  we  have  all  the  conditions  necessary  for  do- 
mestication and  cultivation,  not  once  merely,  but  wherever  they 
and  the  needs  of  man  come  together.  A  good  example  of  all 
this  in  modern  days  is  ginseng,  which  is  native  in  Arabia, 
China,  and  the  United  States.  The  Chinese  prize  this  plant  for 
its  medicinal  properties,  and  as  their  supply  is  short,  we  are  not 
only  hunting  it  out  of  the  wild  in  the  eastern  hills  of  our  own 
country,  but  are  beginning  to  cultivate  it  for  export. 

Miscellaneous  tubers.  True  tubers  are  not  plentiful.  The 
onion  is  not  a  tuber,  being  the  thickened  base  of  the  upright 
stem.  Beets  and  carrots  are  not  tubers,  being  the  true  top  or 
main  root  greatly  enlarged.  Peanuts  are  not  tubers  but  true 
seeds,  this  plant  having  the  curious  habit  of  thrusting  its  blos- 
soms, after  fertilization,  into  the  earth  to  mature  and  ripen  the 
seed  under  ground.  • 


2SS        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Edible  Roots 

As  has  been  indicated,  certain  roots  have  the  habit  of  storing 
large  quantities  of  starch,  which  greatly  enlarges  their  size  and 
acts  as  food  material  later  on.  Such  plants  commonly  act  as 
biennials  in  the  temperate  climate,  growing  and  storing  food 
one  year,  and  sending  up  a  stem  and  producing  seed  the  next.^ 

The  onion  (Allium  cepct).  This  savory  root  has  been  known 
from  early  times.  The  Greeks  and  Romans  knew  several  varie- 
ties, as  did  the  Egyptians.  It  has  also  long  been  cultivated  in 
the  various  countries  of  southern  and  eastern  Asia,  under  vari- 
ous names  that  have  no  similarity  or  other  sign  of  philological 
connection. 

The  species  has  been  found  wild  in  western  Asia  in  various 
localities,  ranging  from  Palestine  to  Beluchistan,  a  fact  which 
seems  to  satisfactorily  settle  its  eastern  origin. 

On  the  other  hand,  both  the  onion  and  the  leek  were  found 
common  in  America,  all  of  which  seems  to  be  a  puzzle  to  Can- 
dolle,  who  remarks  that  species  of  the  genus  Allium  are  exceed- 
ingly rare  in  America.  On  this  point  he  could  not  have  been 
well  informed,  for  if  the  number  of  related  species  be  few,  they 
are  certainly  well  and  widely  diffused.  All  pioneers  will  testify 
to  the  early  abundance  of  the  common  wild  leek  {Allmm  tricoc- 
cum),  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  butter  of  those  days,^  as  we 
of  our  own  time  know  the  wild  onion  of  various  species  to  be 

1  In  tropical  countries  this  seed  production  need  not  wait  till  the  second 
year,  but  may  proceed  directly  upon  the  accumulation  of  sufficient  store  of 
food  for  the  rapid  maturing  of  seed.  Here  all  distinctions  as  to  annual,  bien- 
nial, and  perennial  disappear.  The  century  plant  has  the  same  habit,  except 
that  the  food  material  is  stored  in  the  leaves  rather  than  in  the  roots,  and  very 
much  more  than  a  single  year  is  required.  It  does  not  require,  however,  as  the 
name  indicates,  a  full  century  before  bloom.  In  most  cases  it  is  probably  nearer 
a  decade. 

2  The  cows  running  in  the  woods  and  wild  pastures  ate  freely  of  the  wild 
leeks,  which  often  were  so  abundant  as  to  give  a  grassy-green  appearance 
to  the  forests  in  the  early  spring.  This  so  strongly  affected  the  milk  and 
butter  with  the  disagreeable  flavor  of  the  leek  as  often  to  make  the  product 
unsalable,  indeed  uneatable. 


MISCELLANEOUS  PLANTS  289 

widely  scattered.  Professor  Asa  Gray  lists  seven  species  of 
Allium  as  growing  wild  in  northeastern  North  America,  only 
one  of  which  is  naturalized  from  Europe.  May  not  this  also  be 
a  case  of  multiple  domestication,  if  the  writer  may  coin  a  term 
to  indicate  what  he  believes  to  have  been  a  common  thing  in 
the  early  days  of  civilization  1 

^  The  beet  {Beta  vulgaris).  Whether  as  a  garden  delicacy  or  a 
food  for  stock,  this  plant  is  no  mean  addition  to  our  gardens 
and  fields,  but  as  a  sugar  plant  it  ranks  as  of  prime  importance. 
It  is  the  one  plant  that  has  made  sugar  production  possible  in 
the  temperate  zones.  Beginning  with  but  3  or  4  per  cent  of 
sugar,  by  careful  breeding  it  has  been  raised  in  sugar  content 
till  whole  fields  average  14,. and  single  specimens  have  been 
found  above  25  per  cent.  This  achievement  is  mainly  the  re- 
sult of  German  enterprise,  and  shows  what  science  can  do 
when  applied  to  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life.^ 

The  beet  yet  grows  wild  in  the  Canary  Islands  and  all  along 
the  Mediterranean,  and  as  far  east  as  Persia  and  Babylon.  It 
was  cultivated  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  though  its  varieties 
have  been  greatly  increased  of  late  ;  indeed,  it  seems  to  be  one 
of  these  fortunate  species  that  is  growing  in  favor,  just  as  salsify 
is  as  certainly  dying  out. 

Manioc,  or  mandioca  {Manihot  utilissima).  This  plant,  of  great 
significance  in  tropical  agriculture,  would  not  be  mentioned  here 
except  for  the  fact  that  it  is  almost  undoubtedly  another  of  the 
American,  and  therefore  comparatively  late,  contributions  to  the 
agriculture  of  the  world,  and  except  for  the  further  fact  that  it 
is  the  source  of  our  tapioca  of  commerce.  The  arguments  for 
its  western  nativity  lie  in  the  fact  of  its  comparatively  ancient 
cultivation  in  tropical  America,  and  the  further  fact  that  the 

1  This  was  not  the  result  of  accident,  but  of  deliberate  determination.  The 
Germans  felt  the  disadvantage  of  depending  solely  on  the  tropics  for  their 
sugar  supply,  and  government  chemists  were  set  at  work  to  discover,  if  possible, 
a  sugar-bearing  plant  that  could  be  raised  in  their  latitude.  The  result  is  that 
beet  sugar  can  compete  in  price  with  the  cane,  and  the  quality  is  not  only 
equal  but  identical. 


290         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

forty-two  known  species  of  Euphorbiacea,  to  which  the  manioc 
belongs,  are  all  found  wild  in  South  America,  and  not  one  of 
them  in  the  Old  World,  ^  than  which  no  argument  is  better. 

The  turnip  {Brassica  campestris).  This  old  favorite  of  the 
gardens,  the  white  turnip,  and  the  English  field  swede  are  but 
different  varieties  of  the  same  species.  When  we  attempt  to 
study  them  from  our  present  standpoint  they  introduce  some 
interesting  facts,  not  the  least  of  which  are  the  puzzles  of  the 
botanist. 

The  turnip  is  closely  related  to  the  cabbage  and  cauliflower 
(Brassica  o/eracea),  the  mustard,  both  black  and  white  (Brassica 
nigra  and  Brassica  alba),  and  the  rape  (Brassica  napus),  so 
valued  for  sheep  pasturage  as  to  constitute  in  many  sections  a 
staple  farm  crop. 

All  these  plants  grow  wild  in  southern  Europe  and  Siberia, 
and  are  especially  abundant  in  England,  Holland,  Sweden, 
Denmark,  and  Finland.  They  have  evidently  but  recently  been 
introduced  into  cultivation,  which  tallies  well  with  their  half- 
wild  behavior  and  their  tendency  to  develop  markedly  distinct 
varieties,  as  do  also  cauliflower,  Brussels  sprouts,  kale,  and 
broccoli,  —  all  from  cabbage. 

Miscellaneous  roots.  The  list  of  roots  is  not  long,  but  is 
hardly  of  sufficient  importance  for  detailed  treatment  in  our 
limited  space.  The  carrot  and  the  parsnip  are  both  of  conse- 
quence, and  their  wild  congeners  are  common  in  Europe.  The 
radish,  though  a  garden  vegetable,  is  better  able  to  maintain 
itself  in  the  wild  than  is  almost  any  other  of  our  cultivated 
plants,  as  any  one  can  testify  who  has  had  occasion  to  deal  with 
it  as  a  weed.  Like  the  horse-radish,  it  is  a  native  of  Europe, 
where  it  has  long  been  cultivated.  Salsify,  which  grows  wild 
along  the  Mediterranean,  is  less  cultivated  than  formerly,  and 
seems  to  be  one  of  those  plants  that  is  being  abandoned  and 
destined  to  extermination  unless  it  can  maintain  itself  in  the 
wild,  which  it  seems  well  able  to  do. 

1  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  p.  62. 


MISCELLANEOUS  PLANTS  29 1 

Vegetables  cultivated  for  their  Foliage 

^  Cabbage  (Brassica  oleracea).  Together  with  its  mutants,  cauH- 
flower,  kale,  and  Brussels  sprouts,  etc.,  this  useful  vegetable 
holds  a  prominent  place  in  our  garden  agriculture.  Cabbage 
grows  wild  in  the  south  of  England  and  Ireland,  the  Channel 
Islands,^  and  in  Denmark.  Its  common  name  is  Slavic  (Kab), 
its  botanical  is  Keltic  (Bresic),  and  all  facts  go  to  show  that  its 
introduction,  which  is  recent,  proceeded  from  northwestern 
Europe  as  a  center. 

Celery  (Apium  graveolens).  According  to  Candolle,  this  plant 
grows  wild  in  damp  places  over  a  wide  area,  extending  from 
Sweden  to  Algeria,  Egypt,  and  Abyssinia,  and  in  Asia  from  the 
Caucasus  to  Beluchistan  and  the  mountains  of  British  India.  It 
has  been  known  to  cultivation  since  early  times,  being  mentioned 
in  the  "  Odyssey." 

Lettuce  (Lactuca  scariola).  This  plant,  like  parsley,  grows 
wild  in  southern  Europe,  though  it  has  a  wider  range,  extending 
from  the  Canary  Islands  to  Mesopotamia.  It  was  formerly, 
indeed  until  recently,  raised  in  the  gardens  by  thick  seeding, 
each  plant  sending  up  a  few  broad  and  tender  leaves.  Latterly^ 
however,  this  plant  is  being  raised  in  a  headed  form  like  cabbage, 
with  many  close-clustered  leaves  that  become  well  bleached  and 
very  tender. 

Asparagus.  This  genus  includes  something  like  one  hundred 
and  fifty  species,  mostly  native  of  southern  Africa  and  southern 
Europe.  When  used  at  all,  it  is  largely  for  ornamental  planting, 
but  the  common  garden  species  {Asparagits  officinalis)  has  been 
cultivated  for  at  least  two  thousand  years  for  its  young  and 
succulent  stems.    These  stems  are  small  in  the  wild,  seldom 

1  Darwin  states  that  in  the  island  of  Jersey  the  cabbage  sends  up  a  stalk  to 
the  height  of  sixteen  feet.  He  adds  that  the  woody  stems  are  not  infrequently 
ten  to  twelve  feet  in  height,  and  are  used  for  rafters.  This  makes  it  easy  to 
see  how  the  Brussels  sprouts  have  developed,  and  to  understand  that  many  of 
the  C'Tuciferce  are  developed  into  trees.  The  cabbage  itself  is  indeed  a  heavy 
shelter  of  broad  leaves  growing  on  a  greatly  shortened  stem. 


292         DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

equaling  a  half  inch  in  diameter,  but  in  cultivation  they  some- 
times attain  the  size  of  the  wrist,  with  high  flavor. 

To  these  might  be  added  such  garden  crops  as  spinach,  S 
native  of  Persia,  and  cultivated  from  ancient  times  ;  New  Zea- 
land spinach  ( Tetragonia  expansa),  which  is  our  only  contribution 
from  that  far-off  country,  brought  to  Europe  by  Captain  Cook  ; 
chicory,  which  is  wild  over  most  of  Europe  and  in  western  and 
northern  Asia,  and,  in  both  the  cultivated  and  wild  state,  used  as 
a  substitute  for  coffee  ;  and  many  others,  mere  mention  of  which 
would  too  greatly  extend  our  space. 

Plants  cultivated  for  Beverage 

Coffee  {Coffea  arabica).  This  favorite  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race, 
and  of  western  races  generally,  grows  wild  in  Abyssinia,  where 
it  has  been  used  from  time  immemorial.  This  does  not  mean, 
however,  that  it  has  been  long  under  cultivation,  but  rather  that, 
like  ginseng,  it  was  hunted  wild  and  reduced  to  cultivation  only 
when  the  native  supply  failed.  The  name  indicates  Arabian 
origin,  but  while  a  fine  quality  is  produced  in  that  country,^ 
it  has  never  been  found  truly  wild.  A  larger  and  stronger-grow- 
ing coffee  is  the  Liberian  coffee  {Coffea  liberica),  native  in  that 
country  and  subjected  to  the  same  uses. 

Tea  (Thea  sinensis).  Whether  green  or  black,  the  species  is 
the  same.  Its  use  is  of  very  ancient  date  in  China,  being  men- 
tioned as  early  as  2700  b.c.  It  is  used  both  wild  and  cultivated 
in  Cochin  China,  and  the  best  of  authorities  believe  it  to  be 
a  native  of  the  "  mountainous  region  which  separates  the  plains 
of  India  from  those  of  China."  ^ 

Mate  {Hex  paraguayensis).  This  plant  (pronounced  md'td)  is  a 
native  of  southeastern  South  America,  where  it  has  long  been 

1  This  is  the  true  Mocha,  a  small-grained,  very  fine-flavored  variety.  The 
common  Mocha  of  commerce  grows,  however,  on  the  same  tree  with  other 
coffee.  It  is  simply  the  small  round  bean  growing  alone  at  the  end  of  the  twig, 
whereas  most  of  the  berries  grow  as  twins,  with  the  flat  surfaces  together, 
forming  a  kind  of  bean.  Even  this  Mocha  is  superior  to  other  berries  on  the 
same  tree.  2  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  p.  1 19. 


MISCELLANEOUS  PLANTS  293 

used,  as  has  tea  in  China,  where  the  wild  product  is  yet  more 
common  than  the  cultivated,  and  where  great  quantities  are  con- 
sumed, as  well  as  exported  to  Europe,  under  the  name  of  Para- 
guay tea.  It  makes  a  pleasant  drink  as  the  writer  remembers  it 
in  its  own  country,  though,  of  course,  to  one  not  "to  the  manner 
born  "  it  would  be  considered  inferior  to  either  tea  or  coffee. 

Plants  grown  for  Sedative  Effect 

In  all  countries  and  times  the  human  animal  seems  not  to 
have  been  quite  happy  till  he  could  either  find  or  produce  some- 
thing that  would  work  directly  upon  his  nerves.  And  he  does 
not  seem  yet  to  have  entirely  freed  himself  from  what  must, 
when  considered  in  the  light  either  of  philosophy  or  of  evolution, 
be  regarded  as  a  confession  of  weakness. 

This  craving  exhibits  itself  in  two  directions  :  first,  as  a 
stimulant,  exciting  the  nerves  to  unusual  activity,  giving  an  arti- 
ficial exhilaration,  followed  in  ex-treme  cases  by  a  deep  lethargy, 
largely  destitute  of  consciousness  ;  and  second,  something  to 
act  as  a  sedative,  dulling  the  sensibilities  and  giving  a  kind  of 
soothing  freedom  from  care  which  is  akin  to  sleep,  yet  without 
loss  of  consciousness. 

Alcohol  is  the  one  great  stimulating  agent,  and,  as  was  once  re- 
marked by  the  late  Professor  Steel,  who  had  traveled  extensively 
among  the  primitive  peoples  of  many  lands,  no  tribe  is  too  stupid 
or  too  lazy  to  make  at  least  a  dilute  form  of  alcohol  by  the  fer- 
mentation of  some  kind  of  vegetable  juice. 

For  the  sedative  effects  resort  is  had  to  a  variety  of  vegetable 
substances,  which  are  widely  cultivated  and  will  continue  to  be, 
at  least  until  man  pretty  generally  learns  that  it  pays  best  in  the 
long  run  to  maintain  a  normal  existence  day  by  day,  and  not  to 
tamper  with  the  most  delicate  part  of  his  anatomy,  the  nerves.^ 

1  It  may  be  remarked  in  passing  that  the  basis  of  all  patent  medicines  is 
either  a  stimulant  by  the  use  of  alcohol,  or  a  sedative  through  some  of  the 
well-known  materials  that  have  a  more  or  less  pronounced  stupefying  effect. 
If  the  nerves  are  stimulated,  the  patient  seems  to  have  a  new  lease  of  life ;  if 


294        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

The  poppy  (Papaver  somniferum).  This  is  the  plant  cultivated 
for  its  opium,  which  is  extracted  from  the  milky  juice,  and  from 
which  morphine  is  made.  Opium  produces  a  deliciously  dreamy, 
half-conscious  state,  out  of  which  the  subject  wakens  with  re- 
luctance, and  into  which  he  is  most  likely  to  again  submerge 
himself.  If  he  surrenders  to  this  most  dangerous  drug  for  a 
little  time,  he  is  most  likely  to  turn  out  an  "  opium  fiend,"  with 
little  prospect  for  the  future,  for  experience  shows  that  these 
unfortunate  people  will  practice  the  cunning  of  the  keenest 
lunatic  to  possess  themselves  of  the  drug,  when  once  the  habit 
is  formed. 

The  opium  poppy  is  native  not  to  China  but  along  both 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  where  it  has  long  been  cultivated, 
even  since  the  time  of  the  lake  dwellers.  It  spread  into  Arabia 
and  India,  where  it  is  eaten,  not  smoked,  and  finally  reached 
China  in  the  neighborhood  probably  of  1 500  a.d.  These  people, 
with  malevolent  instinct,  learned  to  smoke  the  drug,  in  which 
way  an  exceptionally  strong  effect  is  produced.  To  the  credit  of 
modern  China  the  cultivation  of  this  poppy  is  being  prohibited. 

Coca  {Erythroxylon  coca).  This  is  a  narcotic  plant  growing 
wild  in  the  Peruvian  Andes,  and  is  chewed  by  the  natives  with 
a  little  unslaked  lime,  producing  an  effect  akin  to  that  of  opium. 
The  alkaloid  cocaine,  which  is  extracted  from  the  leaves,  is,  like 
opium  and  morphine,  a  dangerous  drug,  except  in  the  hands  of 
the  physician,  and  is  subject  to  the  same  abuse.^  The  leaves 
are  exported  in  enormous  amounts  (over  thirty  million  pounds  a 
year),  more  than  ten  million  people  being  addicted  to  the  use 
of  the  drug.  It  is  not  yet  cultivated,  so  far  as  is  known  to  the 
writer,  but  a  demand  like  this  will  bring  cultivation  when  the 

they  are  dulled  by  a  sedative,  he  feels  soothed :  in  either  case  he  feels  better 
and  buys  more  medicine.  Such  medicines  are  known  to  the  trade  as  "  re- 
peaters," because  the  more  is  used  the  more  is  needed,  and  the  appetite  once 
formed  is  insatiable. 

1  Some  of  the  so-called  "  celery  compounds,"  patent  medicines  of  a  few 
years  ago,  depended  for  their  effect  upon  cocaine  as  does  one  of  the  popular 
and  widely  advertised  drinks  of  to-day. 


MISCELLANEOUS  PLANTS  295 

wild  supply  begins  to  fail,^  unless  in  the  meantime  humanity 
learns  wisdom. 

The  beteL  Closely  akin  to  the  above  in  effect  is  the  betel  nut, 
almost  universally  chewed  by  the  natives  of  the  Malay  Peninsula 
and  the  outlying  islands,  as  is  evidenced  by  their  blackened  teeth. 
The  first  effect  is  exhilarating,  but  later  lethargy  ensues.  Habitual 
users  become  toothless,  often  as  early  as  at  twenty-five  years  of  age. 

Tobacco  (Nicotiana  tabacum).  This  plant  serves  exactly  the 
same  purposes  to  its  users  as  does  the  opium  poppy,  the  coca, 
or  the  betel  nut  to  theirs,  except  that  it  is  less  powerful.  It  is 
chewed,  smoked,  and  snuffed  ;  indeed,  human  ingenuity  seems 
to  be  exhausted  in  devising  ways  of  bringing  these  sedatives  in 
contact  with  the  nerves.  As  in  the  case  of  opium,  smoking 
undoubtedly  succeeds  in  producing  more  complete  effects  than 
does  either  chewing  or  snuffing. 

The  plant  is  undoubtedly  of  American  origin,  though  this 
particular  species  is  not  known  in  the  wild  state.  However,  it 
was  unknown  to  the  Old  World  until  after  the  discovery  of 
America,  Arabians  and  others  having  drafted  into  service  other 
similar  narcotic  plants  from  their  own  country,  all  of  which  were 
abandoned  upon  the  introduction  of  the  new,  stronger,  and 
therefore  favorite,  American  narcotic. 

When  this  country  was  discovered  the  South  American  In- 
dians both  chewed  and  snuffed,^  while  from  the  Isthmus  north 
they  smoked,  but  neither  chewed  nor  snuffed.  The  use  of  to- 
bacco was  therefore  well-nigh  universal  in  America  before  it  was 
known  in  the  Old  World.  Added  to  this  is  the  fact  that  of  the 
fifty  species  of  Nicotiana,  only  two  are  found  in  the  Old  World, 
leaving  to  America  the  undoubted,  if  doubtful,  honor  of  supply- 
ing to  the  world  this  new  and  now  widespread  narcotic  favorite. 

1  The  coca  must  not  be  confused  with  the  useful  cacao  ( Theobroma  cacao), 
native  of  the  Amazon,  from  the  seeds  of  which  chocolate  and  cocoa  are  made, 
nor  must  it  be  taken  for  the  equally  useful  coconut,  which  is  the  product  of  a 
palm  that  is  native  to  the  tropical  regions  of  both  the  Old  and  the  New 
World,  and  that  seems  to  have  had  a  wider  range  formerly  than  now. 
2  Except  those  of  the  La  Plata  district,  which  had  no  narcotic. 


296        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Fiber  Plants 

The  need  for  clothing,  covering,  and  cordage,  beyond  the 
available  supply  of  wool  or  other  animal  fiber,  early  led  to  the 
cultivation  of  plants  that  bore  fiber,  either  about  the  seed  or 
along  the  stem.  Of  these  we  have  quite  a  variety. 
^  Cotton  (Gossypium  herbaceum).  This  is  the  one  great  fiber 
plant  of  the  world.  The  seed  is  surrounded  by  a  fine,  strong 
lint,  from  three  fourths  to  two  and  one-half  inches  in  length.  It 
is  not  so  fine  as  silk,  nor  so  lustrous,  and,  not  being  a  contin- 
uous thread,  it  is  not  so  strong,  but  it  is  an  excellent  substitute ; 
especially  is  this  true  of  some  of  the  new  long-staple  varieties. 

Common  cotton  is  native  to  southeastern  Asia,  whence  its  cul- 
tivation seems  to  have  spread  to  China  in  the  ninth  or  tenth  cen- 
tury, to  Greece  and  southern  Europe  in  the  time  of  Alexander, 
and  thence  to  the  United  States,  where  it  arrived  something  less 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 

Aside  from  all  this,  supported  alike  by  botany,  history,  and 
philology,  the  remarkable  fact  remains,  that  when  America  was 
discovered  cotton  was  found  under  cultivation  in  the  West  India 
Islands,  from  Mexico  to  Peru,  and  in  Brazil.  The  species  is  con- 
sidered to  be  different  {Gossypium  barbadense),  though  it  has 
the  same  yellow  flowers  with  red  centers.  The  famous  sea- 
island  or  long-staple  cotton  is  considered  as  a  strain  of  G.  bar- 
badense,  rather  than  of  G.  herbaceum,  which,  however,  covers 
the  principal  varieties  of  cotton  raised  in  the  states. 

With  us  the  cotton  plant  is  a  true  annual,  requiring  reseeding 

every  year,  but  in  warmer  countries  it  may  live  for  a  number  of 

years,  attaining  of  course  considerable  size.^ 

^       Flax  (Linum  usitatissimum).   This  is  a  most  useful  plant,  now 

grown  not  only  for  its  fiber,  but  for  its  seed,  as  a  source  of  oil  ^ 

1  At  Para  the  writer  "  climbed  into  "  a  "  cotton  tree  "  about  twelve  feet  high 
and  several  years  old. 

2  This  is  the  linseed  of  commerce,  used  in  painting.  Linseed  meal  is  the 
ground  seed  before  the  oil  is  extracted,  while  linseed  cake  and  oil  cake  are  the 
residue  after  the  oil  is  removed.    Both  are  excellent  feed. 


MISCELLANEOUS  PLANTS  297 

and  as  stock  food.  Flax  has  been  grown  from  the  greatest  an- 
tiquity. It  was  a  great  crop  with  the  Hebrews  and  the  ancient 
Hindus.  The  mummy  wrappings  of  the  Egyptian  tombs  were 
of  hnen.  Flax  has  been  found  in  a  tomb  of  ancient  Chaldea, 
older  than  the  city  of  Babylon.  The  lake  dwellers  of  Switzer- 
land made  use  of  it,  and  all  evidence  goes  to  show  that  it  is  one 
of  the  oldest  of  cultivated  plants,  hoary  with  age  as  it  is  heavy 
with  honors. 

The  flax  of  the  lake  dwellers  appears  to  have  been  the  peren- 
nial species,  Limim  aiigustifolmfn,  which  is  yet  wild  in  the 
Mediterranean  region,  but  was  later  displaced  by  the  annual 
species,  Linnm  icsitatissimum,  which  has  been  cultivated  for  at 
least  four  or  five  thousand  years,  and  is  yet  wild  in  the  regions 
lying  between  the  Persian  Gulf  and  the  Black  Sea.  Manifestly 
this  is  a  species  that  has  been  so  long  cultivated,  and  one  that 
so  easily  maintains  itself  in  the  wild,  that  its  present  range  would 
be  little  guide  to  its  original  habitat,  so  that  we  cannot  say  with 
confidence  to  what  country  we  owe  the  debt  for  flax. 

Hemp  (Cannabis  sativa).  This  strongest  of  the  fiber  plants 
exists  in  two  distinct  forms,  the  male  and  the  female,  each  a 
separate  plant.  This,  too,  is  an  old  friend,  dating  as  a  culti- 
vated plant  from  at  least  1500  b.c,  or  before  the  Trojan  War. 
Hemp  is  wild  from  southern  Russia  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Caspian,  eastward  to  the  desert  of  Kirghiz,  beyond  Lake 
Baikal.i 

Besides  the  cotton,  flax,  and  hemp  we  have  jute,  an  old  but 
not  ancient  fiber  plant,  widely  scattered  over  the  world  ;  also 
manila,  which  is  the  trade  name  for  the  product  of  a  fibrous 
banana  of  the  Philippines,  Musa  textilis.  Besides  these,  the 
coconut  palm  yields  a  fiber  much  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
matting,  and  that  of  another  palm  is  used  for  the  coarser  quali- 
ties of  brushes,  and  occasionally  for  brooms. 

1  The  student  is  referred  to  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants  "  and  to  con- 
temporaneous literature  for  further  information  upon  our  fiber  plants,  whose 
history  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  the  development  of  the  wild. 


298        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Ornamental  Plants 

Along  with  utility  goes  beauty,  and  the  human  animal  has 
long  surrounded  his  habitation  with  such  flowering  and  other 
ornamental  plants  as  happened  to  strike  his  fancy.  The  list  is 
indefinitely  long  and  the  species  are  exceedingly  varied.  Whether 
for  flower,  fruit,  or  foliage,  the  number  and  variety  of  plants 
that  minister  to  beauty  are  bewildering,  and  both  are  being 
rapidly  increased  by  breeding. 

Here  is  a  world  of  beauty  and  of  interest,  not  only  to  the 
artist  but  to  the  breeder,  into  which  we  can  only  glance  and 
catch  a  glimpse  in  passing.  We  all  admire  the  grace  and  fra- 
grance of  the  rose,  as  well  as  its  variety  of  form  and  color, 
ranging  from  the  stately  American  Beauty  of  the  hothouse  to 
the  delicate  moss  rose  of  the  garden.  This  admiration  is  in- 
creased to  wonder  when  we  realize  that  they  have  all  developed 
from  the  common  wild  rose  that  clambers  over  our  fences  and 
brightens  our  hedges  in  all  the  eastern  United  States,  and  that 
planted  a  multitude  of  bright  eyes  in  the  western  prairies  long 
before  man  was  there  to  see.^ 

There  is  no  more  fascinating  work  than  the  bringing  out  of 
new  forms  of  plant  beauty,  and  young  men  and  women  who 
have  the  artistic  sense  developed,  will  find  much  in  this  realm 
of  nature  to  stimulate  to  still  further  appreciation  of  the  beau- 
tiful, and  to  show  what  may  be  done  with  the  materials  which 
the  All- Father  has  placed  in  our  hands,  and  the  great  principles 
with  which  he  has  taught  us  to  work. 

Weeds 

Just  as  certain  species  of  animals  have  attached  themselves 
to  us  and  our  affairs  without  invitation,  and  continue  without 
welcome,  so  have  certain  species  of  plants  invaded  our  fields 
and   gardens,    quite   against   our   desires   and   greatly  to   our 

1  Showing  the  mistake  of  the  notion  that  all  beauty  was  made  expressly  for 
man's  enjoyment. 


.   MISCELLANEOUS  PLANTS  299 

inconvenience  and  expense.  We  call  them  weeds. ^  Their  domes- 
tication is  not  of  our  choosing  but  of  their  own  making,  and  it 
has  come  about  in  any  case  because  their  individual  require- 
ments fitted  almost  perfectly  with  those  of  some  other  species 
which  we  were  trying  to  domesticate  and  produce  in  quantity. 

For  example,  chess  {Bromus  secalinus)  is  a  plant  having  the 
same  soil  and  seasonal  requirements  as  wheat,  though  of  a  dis- 
tinctly different  genus.  The  seeds  are  near  enough  alike,  how- 
ever, to  be  separated  with  great  difficulty  ;  hence  some  chess  is 
nearly  always  sown  with  wheat.  The  chess  plant  is  much  hardier 
and  much  more  prolific  ^  than  the  wheat,  so  that  if  the  two  were 
thrown  together,  the  chess  would  soon  take  the  ground. 

As  it  is,  if  anything  happens  to  the  tender  wheat,  as  in  winter 
killing,  there  is  generally  enough  chess  at  hand  to  make  a 
showing,  even  with  less  than  two  hundred  spears  to  the  stool, 
giving  rise  to  the  absurd  belief  that  the  wheat  has  ''  turned 
to  chess." 

Every  weed  has  some  natural  advantage,  generally  arising  in 
the  crop  conditions  with  which  it  most  easily  and  naturally 
associates,  and  here  is  the  vulnerable  point  of  attack  for  its 
extenuation. 

Weeds,  of  course,  came  out  of  the  wild,  and  most  of  them 
still  exist  in  the  wild  in  the  same  regions  which  they  infest  as 
weeds.  This  is  true  of  such  as  cocklebur,  Canada  thistle, 
quack  grass, ^  etc.,  but  others,  like  cockle  and  chess,  are  not  found 
except  in  association  with  growing  crops  ;  that  is  to  say,  they 
do  not  readily  escape  from  cultivation. 

The  behavior  of  a  weed  upon  first  introduction  is  little  indi- 
cation of  what  its  subsequent  history  will  be.  Wild  lettuce,  for 
example,  spread  over  the  western  United  States  a  few  years 

1  The  best  definition  for  a  weed  is  "  a  plant  out  of  place." 

2  The  writer  once  counted  two  hundred  and  four  species  of  chess,  each 
bearing  a  full  "  head  "  and  all  springing  from  a  single  root  originating  from  a 
single  seed. 

8  These  weeds,  however,  are  not,  in  most  cases,  truly  wild,  but  have  been 
"  introduced  "  and  afterwards  have  "  run  wild  "  like  feral  animals. 


300        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

ago,  to  the  great  alarm  of  everybody,  and  nothing  seemed  able 
to  stop  it ;  but  in  a  very  few  years  it  subsided,  apparently  of  its 
own  accord,  and  within  a  few  more  was  practically  extinct. 
Others  "  come  and  go  "  with  the  seasons,  just  as  white  clover 
is  abundant  in  a  wet  season  and  then  unnoticed  perhaps  for 
many  years.  It  is  still  there,  but  is  inconspicuous  until  condi- 
tions become  peculiarly  favorable.  Still  others  are  always  with 
us,  always  a  menace  to  the  valuable  cultivated  crops,  always 
ready  to  rob  the  land  of  its  fertility  and  its  moisture,  and  the 
farmer  of  his  profits. 

Exercises.  1.  Make  a  list  of  wild  plants  in  the  neighborhood  that  are 
related  to  domesticated  species. 

2.  Discuss  the  question  whether  any  wild  plants  of  the  neighborhood 
could  be  made  of  economic  use  to  man. 

3.  Make  a  herbarium  of  leguminous  plants,  taking  care  to  preserve  the 
flowers,  the  fruits,  and  the  tubercles.  These  latter  are  difficult  to  secure. 
If  the  plant  is  pulled  up,  they  will  be  stripped  off.  The  plant  should  be 
carefully  lifted  out  with  a  spade,  and  the  earth  should  be  removed  by  gentle 
shaking  and  then  washing  in  a  generous  quantity  of  water. 

4.  Secure  a  small  plat  or  field  near  the  schoolhouse  on  which  to  raise 
different  varieties  for  study  and  comparison. 

5.  Compare  the  pistils  and  the  pollen-bearing  parts  of  corn  with  those  of 
Kafir  corn,  clover,  beans,  and  alfalfa. 

6.  Raise  some  hemp,  in  order  to  note  the  difference  between  the  "  male  " 
and  the  "  female  "  plants.  If  hops  are  grown  in  the  neighborhood,  note 
same  with  them. 

7.  Write  the  story  of  the  domestication  of  the  American  grape.  For  data 
see  "  Evolution  of  our  Native  Fruits,"  by  Bailey. 

8.  What  wild  plants  in  your  neighborhood  might,  in  your  judgment,  make 
valuable  plants  in  cultivation  ? 

References.  1.  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants  "  (from  which  the  data  of 
this  chapter  are  largely  taken).    De  CandoUe. 

2.  "  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication  "  (Vol.  I,  chaps,  ix  and  x). 
Darwin. 

3.  "  Evolution  of  our  Native  Fruits."    Bailey. 

4.  A  good  collection  of  seedsmen's  catalogues,  which  is  the  best  guide 
to  new  things. 


APPENDIX 


STOCK  JUDGING 

To  be  able  to  tell  at  sight  a  good  animal  from  a  poor  one  is  a  valu- 
able qualification  to  the  farmer  and  indispensable  to  the  breeder.  It 
is  also  good  practice  for  the  student  to  learn  the  art. 

The  best  way  to  begin  this  study  is  by  directing  the  attention 
definitely  to  different  ''  points  "  of  the  animal  and  give  them  careful 
study,  one  at  a  time,  guided  in  this  study  by  some  recognized  standard. 

Such  a  standard  is  known  as  a  "  scale  of  points,"  and  to  facilitate 
this  work  some  standard  scales  are  given  for  the  students'  use. 

In  practice  these  score  cards  should  be  copied  on  sheets  and  each 
animal  "  scaled "  separately,  after  which  the  markings  of  different 
animals  should  be  compared,  as  should  also  the  work  of  different 
students  upon  the  same  animal. 

It  is  for  this  work  that  the  neighborhood  supply  of  animals  should 
be  drawn  upon,  and  perhaps  nothing  that  can  be  done  will  tend  so 
much  to  bring  the  school  and  the  community  together. 

Besides  all  this  there  is  no  better  way  of  teaching  accuracy  of  obser- 
vation than  by  the  means  of  stock  judging.  The  untrained  observer 
sees  the  animal  as  a  whole,  but  the  student  soon  learns  to  separate 
the  individual  into  separate  characters  or  ''  points,"  and  he  learns 
thereby  not  only  to  recognize  details,  but  also  that  animals,  like  people, 
may  be  partly  good  and  partly  bad.  Altogether  this  line  of  work  is 
commended  to  the  schools  and  to  the  young. 


301 


302 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


STUDENT'S  SCORE  CARD 

HEAVY    HORSES 


Scale  of  Points 


Age,  years 

Height,  hands 

Weight,  pounds 

Score  according  to  breed 

Form,  according  to  breed,  broad,  massive,  —  symmetrical . 

Condition,  carrying  a  good  amount  of  firm  flesh    .     .     .     . 

Quality :  bone  moderately  heavy,  clean,  firm,  and  indicating 
sufficient  substance,  tendons  well  defined,  hair  and  skin 
fine 

Color,  according  to  breed 

Temperament,  quiet,  yet  energetic 

Head,  medium  in  size,  not  coarse,  and  showing  character  , 

Muzzle,  fine,  nostrils  large  ;  lips  thin,  even  ;  teeth  sound  . 

Eyes,  large,  full,  bright,  clear 

Forehead,  broad  and  full 

Ears,  medium  size,  pointed  ;  well  carried  and  not  far  apart 

Keck,  medium  length  and  clean-cut,  well  muscled;  crest 
well  developed  and  nicely  arched  ;  throat  latch  fine  ;  wind- 
pipe large ;  tapering  from  shoulder  to  head,  and  head 
attached  at  proper  angle 

Shoulder,  oblique,  long,  smooth,  and  covered  with  muscle 
extending  into  back ;  withers  well  finished  at  the  top 

Arm,  short,  well  muscled,  elbow  lying  close  to  the  body     . 

Fore  legs,  viewed  in  front,  a  perpendicular  line  from  the 
point  of  the  shoulder  should  fall  upon  the  center  of  the 
knee,  cannon,  pastern,  and  foot.  From  the  side  a  per- 
pendicular line  dropping  from  the  center  of  the  elbow- 
joint  should  fall  upon  the  center  of  the  knee  and  pastern 
joint  and  back  of  the  hoof 

Forearm,  heavily  muscled,  long,  wide,  and  tapering  from 
elbow  to  knee 

Knees,  large,  clean,  wide,  straight,  and  strongly  supported 

Cannons,  short,  wide,  clean  ;  tendons  large,  set  well  back, 

not  tied  in  below  the  knee 

Fetlocks,  wide,  straight,  strong,  free  from  puffiness  .     .     . 

Pasterns,  strong,  of  medium  length,  angle  with  the  ground 

43       

Feet,  straight,  medium  size,  even  ;  horn  dense  ;  frog  large, 

elastic ;    bars  strong ;    sole  concave  ;    heel  wide,  high ; 

hoof  head  large 

Chest,  deep,  low,  girth  large,  width  of  breast  in  proportion 

with  other  parts 

Ribs,  long,  well  sprung 

Back,  straight,  short,  broad,  well  muscled 

Loin,  wide,  short,  thick,  and  neatly  joined  to  hips      .     .     . 


Perfect 
Score 


Student's 
Score 


STANDARD  SCALE  OF  POINTS 


303 


STUDENT'S   SCORE   CARD  (Continued) 
HEAVY  HORSES  (Continued) 


Scale  of  Points 

Perfect 
Score 

Student's 
Score 

Corrected 
Score 

I 

2 
2 

I 

3 

2 

4 

I 

4 

2. 

I 

4 
6 

4 

Hips,  smooth,  level,  width  in  proportion  with  other  parts, 
but  not  prominent 

Tail,  attached  high,  well  carried,  well  haired  with  straight 
and  not  too  coarse  hair 

Thighs,  long,  muscular,  thick  and  wide,  well  muscled  over 
stifle 

Quarters,  heavily  muscled,  deep 

Hind  legs,  viewed  from  behind,  a  perpendicular  line  from 
the  point  of  the  buttock  should  fall  upon  the  center  of 
the  hock,  cannon,  pastern,  and  foot.    From  the  side  a  per- 
pendicular line  from  the  hip  joint  should  fall  upon  the 
center  of  the  foot  and  divide  the  gaskin  in  the  middle ; 
and  a  perpendicular  line  from  the  point  of  the  buttock 
should  run  parallel  with  the  line  of  the  cannon  .... 

Gaskins  or  lower  thighs,  wide,  well  muscled 

Hocks,   large,  strong,  clean,  and  well  defined,  free  from 

puffiness,  coarseness,  and  curbiness 

Cannons,  short,  broad,  flat,  and  clean,  tendons  large  and  set 

back,  not  too  light  below  the  hock 

Fetlocks,  large,  wide,  straight,  strong,  free  from  puffiness 
Pasterns,  strong  and  of  medium  length  and  obliquity,  not 

so  great  as  fore  pasterns 

Hind  feet,  straight,  medium  size,  even  ;  smaller,  and  not  so 
round  as  fore  feet ;  horn  dense  ;  frog  large,  elastic  ;  bars 
strong  ;  sole  concave  ;  heel  wide,  high 

Action,  walk  elastic,  quick,  balanced  ;  step  long     .... 

Trot  rapid,  straight,  regular,  high  ;  should  not  wing  or 

roll  in  front,  or  go  wide  or  too  close  behind     .     .     . 

Total 

100 

Animal     ,     .     . 
Student's  Name 


Date 


304 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


STUDENT'S   SCORE    CARD 
LIGHT   HORSES 


Scale  of  Points 


Perfect 
Score 


Student's 
Score 


Corrected 
Score 


Age,  years 

Height,  hands 

Weight,  pounds 

Score  according  to  breed 

Form,  according  to  breed,  symmetrical,  smooth,  and  stylish 

Condition,  carrying  a  moderate  amount  of  firm  flesh      .     . 
Quality:  bone    clean,  firm,  and  indicating  sufficient  sub- 
stance ;  tendons  well  defined  ;  hair  and  skin  fine     .     .     . 

Color,  according  to  breed 

Temperament,  spirited,  yet  docile 

Head,  not  too  large  and  showing  character,  features  well  de- 
fined and  regular 

Muzzle,  fine,  nostrils  large  ;  lips  thin,  even  ;  teeth  sound     . 

Eyes,  large,  full,  bright,  clear       

Forehead,  broad  and  full 

Ears,  medium  size,  pointed,  well  carried  and  not  far  apart 
Neck,  rather  long,  clean-cut,  well  muscled,  tapering  from 

shoulder  to  head  and  head  attached  at  proper  angle  ; 

crest  well  developed  and  nicely  arched  ;  throat  latch  fine  ; 

windpipe  large 

Shoulder,  oblique,  long,  smooth,  and  covered  with  muscle 

extending  into  iDack; ;  withers  well  finished  at  the  top 

Arm,  short,  well  muscled,  elbow  lying  close  to  the  body     . 

Fore  legs,  viewed  in  front,  a  perpendicular  line  from  the 
point  of  the  shoulder  should  fall  upon  the  center  of  the 
knee,  cannon,  pastern,  and  foot.  From  the  side,  a  perpen- 
dicular line  dropping  from  the  center  of  the  elbow  joint 
should  fall  upon  the  center  of  the  knee  and  pastern  joint 
and  back  of  the  hoof 

Forearm,  well  muscled,  medium  length,  wide  and  tapering 
from  elbow  to  knee ^ 

Knees,  large,  clean,  wide,  straight,  and  strongly  supported 

Cannons,  medium  length,  wide,  clean  ;  tendons  large,  set 

well  back,  not  tied  in  below  the  knee . 

Fetlocks,  wide,  straight,  strong,  free  from  puffiness  .     .     . 

Pasterns,  strong,  of  medium  length,  angle  with  the  ground 

45° 

Feet,  straight,  medium  size,  even  ;  horn  dense  ;  frog  large, 

elastic  ;  bars  strong  ;  sole  concave ;  heel  wide,  high  ;  hoof 

head  large       

Chest,  deep,  low,  girth  large,  width  of  breast  according  to 

class        

Ribs,  long,  well  sprung 

Back,  straight,  short,  broad,  well  muscled     ...... 

Loin,  wide,  short,  thick  and  neatly  joined  to  hips      .     .     . 


STANDARD  SCALE  OF  POINTS 


305 


STUDENT'S   SCORE   CARD   (Continued) 
LIGHT  HORSES  (Continued) 


Scale  of  Points 

Perfect 
Score 

Student's 
Score 

Corrected 
Score 

Underline,  long 

2 
2 

3 

I 

4 

4 
2 

I 

1 

4 
4 

12 

Hips,  smooth,  level,  width  in  proportion  with  other  parts. 

Croup,  long,  wide,  muscular,  not  drooping 

Tail,  attached  high,  well  carried,  well  haired  with  straight 
and  not  too  coarse  hair    ....          

Thighs,  long,  muscular,  thick,  and  wide,  well  muscled  over 
stifle 

Quarters,  heavily  muscled 

Hind  legs,  viewed  from  behind,  a  perpendicular  line  from 
the  point  of  the  buttock  should  fall  upon  the  center  of 
the  hock,  cannon,  pastern,  and  foot.    From  the  side,  a  per- 
pendicular line  from  the  hip  joint  should  fall  upon  the 
center  of  the  foot  and  divide  the  gaskin  in  the  middle ; 
and  a  perpendicular  line  from  the  point  of  the  buttock 
should  run  parallel  with  the  line  of  the  cannon  .... 

Gaskins  or  lower  thighs,  long,  wide,  well  muscled     .     .     . 

Hocks,  strong,  clean,  and  well  defined,  free  from  puffiness, 
coarseness,  and  curbiness 

Cannons,  medium  length,  broad,  flat,  and  clean ;  tendons 
large  and  set  back  ;  not  too  light  below  the  hock    .     .     . 

Fetlocks,  large,  wide,  straight,  strong,  free  from  puffiness 

Pasterns,  strong  and  of  medium  length,  obliquity  not  so 
great  as  fore  pasterns 

Hind  feet,  straight,  medium  size,  even  ;  smaller,  and  not  so 
round  as  fore  feet ;  horn  dense  ;  frog  large,  elastic  ;  bars 
strong  ;  sole  concave  ;  heel  wide,  high 

Action,  walk  elastic,  quick,  balanced  ;  step  long     .... 

Trot  rapid,  straight,  regular,  high  ;  should  not  forge, 
wing,  or  roll  in  front,  or  go  wide  or  too  close  behind 

Total 

100 

Animal     .     .     . 
Student's  Name 


Date 


3o6 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


STUDENT'S   SCORE   CARD 
DAIRY  CATTLE 


Scale  of  Points 


INDICATING  MILKING  QUALITIES,  THIRTY  POINTS 

Udder,  capacious,  full  and  attached  high  at  the  back, 
extending  well  forward  ;  quarters  evenly  developed, 
preferably  free  from  fleshiness  (omit  for  male)    .     .     . 

Teats,  uniform,  of  convenient  size  and  length,  placed 
well  apart,  of  nearly  equal  diameter  from  base  to  point, 
free  from  lumps,  warts,  extra  orifices,  or  leakage 
throwing  clean  streams  with  reasonable  pressure 
(rudimentary  in  male) 

Milk  veins,  large,  tortuous,  and  much  branched ;  milk 
wells  large 

Rump,  broad  at  both  hip  and  pin  bones,  indicating  pelvic 
capacity 

Temperament,  inherited  tendency  of  dairy  function  .  . 
INDICATING  FEEDING  QUALITIES,  THIRTY  POINTS 

Barrel,  long,  deep,  full  at  paunch,  with  plenty  of  space 
between  last  rib  and  point  of  hip 

Bone,  medium,  as  indicated  by  clean  face  and  legs  with 
smooth  joints,  short  cannons,  and  long,  slim  tail.  Ex- 
treme fineness  undesirable 

"Withers,  narrow,  smooth  over  top,  not  higher  than  rump 

Muzzle,  wide,  full  Hps 

Face,  broad  between  eyes,  flat  or  dished,  not  bulging     . 

Eye,  full,  clear,  quiet,  set  well  forward,  not  in  side  of  head 

Neck,  medium  to  thin  on  top,  and  fair  length  (thicker  in 
males  and  crested  with  age) 

Throat,  clean 

Dewlap,  light 

Handling,  skin  medium  thick,  mellow,  loose,  not  hard  or 
papery ;  hair  fine  and  soft,  not  wiry ;  inside  of  ears 

furry  ;  switch  long  and  silky 

INDICATING  CONSTITUTION  AND  GENERAL  HEALTH, 
TWENTY-FIVE  POINTS 

Chest,  deep  and  full,  showing  plenty  of  lung  capacity, 
wide  on  the  floor  and  full  at  the  elbows 

Legs,  straight,  neither  knock-kneed  nor  sickle-hocked     . 

Back,  straight,  sometimes  drooping  with  age     .     .     .     . 

Pasterns,  short,  strong,  and  upright      ....... 

General  appearance,  thrifty  and  vigorous 

Carriage,  active  but  not  nervous 

SYMMETRY,  FIFTEEN  POINTS 

The  proper  balance  between  the  different  parts  of  the 
animal's  body,  including  general  neatness  and  smooth- 
ness of  form ;  in  males  greater  relative  development 
of  shoulders,  neck,  and  head 


Perfect 
Score 


Student' 
Score 


Total 


Other  particulars  in  which  cows  vary  are  npt  listed  above 
because  their  connection  with  milk  production  is  ques- 
tionable, or  at  least  not  understood  ;  for  example,  the 
escutcheon,  rudimentaries,  color,  etc. 

Weight,  estimated     .     .     pounds ;  actual     .     .    pounds. 


Animal    ...     . 
Student's  Name 


Date 


STANDARD  SCALE  OF  POINTS 

STUDENT'S   SCORE    CARD 

BEEF  CATTLE.     BREEDING  STOCK 


307 


Scale  of  Points 


Perfect 
Score 


Student': 
Score 


Corrected 
Score 


GENERAL  APPEARANCE,   FORTY  POINTS 

Weight,  estimated  .  .  pounds;  actual  .  .  pounds. 
According  to  age 

Form,  straight  top  line  and  underline,  deep,  broad,  low- 
set,  stylish 

Quality:  firm  handling;  fine  hair;  pliable  skin:  dense, 
clean  bone  ;  evenly  fleshed  without  ties  or  rolls  .     .     . 

Condition,  deep  even  covering  of  firm  flesh,  especially 
in  region  of  valuable  cuts 


HEAD  AND  NECK,    SEVEN  POINTS 
Muzzle :  mouth  large  ;  lips  thin  ;  nostril 

Eyes,  large,  clear,  placid 

Face,  short,  quiet,  expressive    .... 

Forehead,  broad,  full 

Ears,  medium  size,  fine  texture     .     .     . 
Neck,  thick,  short;  throat  clean    .     .     . 


large 


FORE  QUARTERS,   NINE  POINTS 

Shoulder  vein,  full 

Shoulder,  covered  with  flesh,  compact  on  top,  snug 

Brisket,  advanced,  breast  wide 

Dewlap,  skin  not  too  loose  and  drooping  .... 
Legs,  straight,  short,  arm  full ;  shank  fine,  smooth 

BODY,    THIRTY  POINTS 

Chest,  full,  deep,  wide  ;  girth  large  ;  crops  full .     . 
Ribs,  long,  arched,  thickly  fleshed     ...... 

Back,  broad,  straight 

Loin,  thick,  broad 

Flank,  full,  even  with  underline 


HIND  QUARTERS,  FOURTEEN  POINTS 

Hip,  smoothly  covered  ;    distance    apart   in    proportion 

with  other  parts 

Rump,  long,  wide,  even  ;  tail  head  smooth,  not  patchy    . 

Pin  bones,  not  prominent,  far  apart 

Thighs,  full 

Twist,  deep,  plump,  indicating  fleshiness 

Legs,  straight,  short,  shank  fine,  smooth 


Total 


Animal    .     .  -  . 
Student's  Name 


Date 


:o8        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


STUDENT'S   SCORE   CARD 
BEEF  CATTLE.     MARKET  STOCK 


Standard  of  Excellence 


pounds ;  actual 


pounds. 


Weight,  estimated 

According  to  age 

Form,  straight   top  and  underlines,  deep,  broad,  low-set, 
compact,  symmetrical 


Quality:  hair  fine;  bone  fine  but  strong;  skin  pliable; 
mellow,  even  covering  of  firm  flesh,  especially  in  region 
of  valuable  cuts  ;  absence  of  ties  and  rolls 


Condition,  prime  ;  flesh  deep  ;  evidence  of  finish  especially 
marked  in  cod,  at  tail  head,  flank,  shoulder,  and  throat ; 
absence  of  bunches,  patches,  or  rolls  of  fat    .     .     .     .     . 

Head,  clean,  symmetrical ;  quiet  expression  ;  mouth  and 
nostrils  large ;  lips  moderately  thin ;  eyes  large,  clear, 
placid ;  face,  short ;  forehead  broad,  full ;  ears  medium 
size,  fine  texture 

Neck,  thick,  short,  tapering  neatly  from  shoulder  to  head; 
throat  clean 

Shoulder  vein,  full 

Shoulder,  well  covered  with  flesh,  compact 

Brisket,  full,  broad,  but  not  too  prominent ;  breast  wide    . 

Dewlap,  skin  not  too  loose  and  drooping 

Chest,  deep,  wide,  full 

Crops,  full,  thick,  broad 

Ribs,  long,  arched,  thickly  fleshed 

Back,  broad,  straight,  thickly  and  evenly  fleshed  .     .     .     . 

Loin,  thick,  broad,  thickness  extending  well  forward      .     . 

Flank,  full,  low,  thick 

Hips,  smoothly  covered ;  width  in  proportion  with  other 
parts,  but  not  prominent 

Rump,  long,  level,  wide  and  even ;  tail  head  smooth,  not 
patchy 

Pin  bones,  not  prominent;  width  in  proportion  with  other 
parts 

Thighs,  full,  fleshed  well  down  to  hock 

Twist,  deep,  full ;  purse  in  steers  full 

Legs,  straight,  short ;  arm  full ;  shank  fine,  smooth    .     .     . 

Total 


Perfect 
Score 


Animal    .     .     . 
Student's  Name 


Student's 
Score 


Date 


STANDARD  OF  F:XCELLENCE 


30.9 


STUDENT'S   SCORE   CARD 

FAT  HOGS.     MARKET   STOCK 


Standard  ok  Excellence 

Perfect 
Score 

Student's 
Score 

Corrected 
Score 

Weight,  pounds 

Form,   long,  deep,  broad,   low-set,   symmetrical,  compact, 
standing  squarely  on  legs 

7 
12 

10 
2 

5 

0.5 

0.5 

0.5 

0.5 

0.5 

I 

2 

7 

^5 

12 

2 

5 
12 

4 
0.5 

Condition:  thrifty,  well  fleshed,  fat  but  firm 

Quality:  hair  fine  ;  bone  fine  but  strong  ;  skin  smooth  ;  even 
covering  of  firm  flesh,  free  from  lumps  and  wrinkles 

Style,  attractive 

Action,  spirited,  straightforward,  regular,  free  and  easy 

Constitution,  chest  capacious;  brisket  advanced  and  low  ; 
flanks  full  and  well  let  down 

Coat,  abundant,  fine,  straight,  bright,  smooth,  evenly  dis- 
tributed, lying  close  to  body 

Snout,  medium  length,  not  coarse 

Eyes,  full,  bright,  not  obscured  by  wrinkles 

Face,  broad  between  eyes  and  ears,  smooth 

Ears,  fine  texture,  medium  size,  neatly  attached      .... 

Jowls,  smooth,  firm,  medium  size,  not  pendulous  .... 

Neck,  short,  deep,  thick,  joining  head  to  shoulders  smoothly 

Shoulders,  deep,  full,  compact,  smooth,  not  too  heavy  .     . 

Back  and  loin,  long,  broad,  strong,  even   width,   thickly 
and  evenly  fleshed       

Sides,  long,  deep,  full,  even  width,  free  from  wrinkles  and 
flabbiness ;  ribs  long,  carrying  fullness  well  down  .     .     . 

Belly,  straight,  even,  not  flabby,  proportionate  in  width 

Rump,  long,  wide,  even  width,  thickly  and  evenly  fleshed, 
rounding  from  loin  to  root  of  tail,  not  too  drooping  .     . 

Hams,  broad,  especially  at   upper   end,   deep,  full,   well 
fleshed  and  plump,  not  too  fat 

Legs,  straight,  strong,  tapering,  medium  length,  set  well 
apart ;  bones   smooth  ;  joints  clean  ;  pasterns  upright ; 
feet  medium  size,  not  sprawling,  squarely  placed    .     .     . 

Tail,  medium  in  size  and  length,  smooth,  tapering,  not  set 
too  low          ...                

Total               

100 

Animal    .     .     . 
Student's  Name 


Date 


The  preceding  score  cards  are  made  from  the  standpoint  of  utiHty  and 
without  reference  to  breed  characters.  They  are  in  actual  use  for  class  work. 
In  addition  to  this  some  breeders'  associations  have  adopted  a  special  scale  of 
points  designed  to  bring  out  the  distinctive  characters  or  points  in  the  breed. 
Two  of  the  many  are  here  given  as  samples.  It  will  be  noticed  that  in  these 
latter  much  attention  is  given  to  matters  of  appearance  as  distinct  from  utility. 


3IO        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

SCALE    OF   POINTS    FOR   JERSEY   COWS 

HEAD,  SEVEN  POINTS  COUNTS 

A.  Medium  size,  lean ;   face  dished,  broad  between  eyes  and  narrow  between 

horns 4 

B.  Eyes  full  and  placid  ;  horns  small  to  medium,  incurving  ;  muzzle  broad,  with 

muscular  lips  ;  strong  under  jaw 3 

NECK,  FIVE  POINTS 

Thin,  rather  long,  with  clean  throat ;  thin  at  withers 5 

BODY,  THIRTY-THREE  POINTS 

A.  Lung  capacity,  as  indicated  by  depth  and  breadth  through  body,  just  back  of 

fore  legs 5 

B.  Wedge-shaped,  with  deep,  large  paunch  ;  legs  proportionate  to  size  and  of  fine 

quality  .     .' 10 

C.  Back  straight  to  hip  bones 2 

D.  Rump  long  to  tail  setting  and  level  from  hip  bones  to  rump  bones    ....  8 

E.  Hip  bones  high  and  wide  apart;  loins  broad,  strong 5 

F.  Thighs  flat  and  well  cut  out 3 

TAIL,  TWO  POINTS 

Thin,  long,  with  good  switch,  not  coarse  at  setting-on 2 

UDDER,  TWENTY-EIGHT  POINTS 

A.  Large  size  and  not  fleshy 6 

B.  Broad,  level,  or  spherical,  not  deeply  cut  between  teats 4 

C.  Fore  udder  full  and  well  rounded,  running  well  forward  of  front  teats    ...  10 

D.  Rear  udder  well  rounded,  and  well  out  and  up  behind 8 

TEATS,  EIGHT  POINTS 

Of  good  and  uniform  length  and  size,  regularly  and  squarely  placed 8 

MILK  VEINS,  FOUR  POINTS 

Large,  tortuous,  and  elastic 4 

SIZE,  THREE  POINTS 

Mature  cows,  800  to  1000  pounds 3 

GENERAL  APPEARANCE,  TEN  POINTS 

A  symmetrical  balancing  of  all  the  parts,  and  a  proportion  of  parts  to  each  other, 
depending  on  size  of  animal,  with  the  general  appearance  of  a  high-class 
animal,  with  capacity  for  food  and  productiveness  at  pail 10 

Total 100 


SPECIAL  SCALE  OF  POINTS  311 

SCALE   OF   POINTS    FOR    HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN    COWS 

Points 

Head,  decidedly  feminine  in  appearance  ;  fine  in  contour 2 

Forehead,  broad  between  the  eyes,  dishing 2 

Face,  of  medium  length  ;  clean  and  trim,  especially  under  the  eyes,  showing  facial 

veins  ;  the  bridge  of  the  nose  straight ;  the  muzzle  broad 2 

Muzzle,  broad  with  strong  lips i 

Ears,  of  medium  size,  and  fine  texture;  the  hair  plentiful  and  soft;  the  secretions 

oily  and  abundant i 

Eyes,  large,  full,  mild,  bright 2 

Horns,  small,  tapering  finely  towards  the  tips,  set  moderately  narrow  at  base,  oval, 

inclining  forward,  well  bent  inward,  of. fine  texture,  in  appearance  waxy    ...       i 

Neok,  long,  fine  and  clean  at  juncture  with  the  head,  free  from  dewlap,  evenly 

and  smoothly  joined  to  shoulders 4 

Shoulders,  slightly  lower  than  hips,  fine  and  even  over  tops,  moderately  broad  and 

full  at  sides 3 

Chest,  of  moderate  depth  and  lowness,  smooth  and  moderately  full  in  the  brisket, 

full  in  the  fore  flanks  (or  through  the  heart) 6 

Crops,  moderately  full 2 

Chine,  straight,  broadly  developed,  open 6 

Barrel,  wedge-shaped,  well  rounded,  with  a  large  abdomen,  trimly  held  up  (in 

judging  the  last  item  age  must  be  considered) 7 

Loin  and  hops,  broad,  level  or  nearly  level  between  the  hook  bones,  level  and 
strong  laterally,  spreading  from  chine  broadly  and  nearly  level,  with  hook 
bones  fairly  prominent 6 

Rump,  long  and  high,  broad  with  roomy  pelvis,  nearly  level  laterally,  compar- 
atively full  above  the  thurl    6 

Thurl,  high,  broad 3 

Quarters,  deep,  straight  behind,  roomy  in  the  twist,  wide  and  moderately  full  at 

the  sides 4 

Flanks,  deep,  comparatively  full 2 

Legs,  comparatively  short,  clean  and  nearly  straight,  wide  apart  and  firmly  and 

squarely  set  under  the  body ;  feet  of  medium  size,  round,  sblid,  and  deep     .     .       4 

Tail,  large  at  base,  the  setting  well  back,  tapering  finely  to  switch,  the  end  of  the 
bone  reaching  to  hocks  or  below ;  the  switch  full 2 

Hair  and  handling,  hair  healthful  in  appearance,  fine,  soft,  and  furry ;  the  skin  of 
medium  thickness  and  loose,  mellow  under  the  hand ;  the  secretions  oily, 
abundant,  and  of  a  rich  brown  or  yellow  color 8 

Mammary  veins,  very  large,  very  crooked  (age  must  be  taken  into  consideration  in 
judging  of  size  and  crookedness),  entering  very  large  or  numerous  orifices, 
double  extension,  with  special  developments  such  as  branches,  connections,  etc.     10 

Udder,  very  capacious,  very  flexible  ;  quarters  even ;  nearly  filling  the  space  in  the 
rear  below  the  twist,  extending  well  forward  in  front,  broad  and  well  held  up ; 
teats  well  formed,  wide  apart,  plumb,  and  of  convenient  size 12 

Teats 2 

Escutcheon,  largest,  finest 2 

Perfection 100 


GLOSSARY 


In  the  following  glossary  of  terms  used  in  the  text  and  the  references  no 
attempt  is  made  to  furnish  exact  definitions.  The  purpose  has  been  rather  to 
supply  the  secondary-school  student  with  an  adequate  working  idea  of  the 
meaning  of  the  terms  as  commonly  employed,  maintaining  at  the  same  time 
scientific  accuracy,  without  aiming  to  attain  that  exhaustive  discrimination 
which  might  be  demanded  by  the  highly  specialized  student. 

Accessory  chromosome.  That  particular  chromosome  which,  at  least  in  certain 
species,  has  its  mate  in  the  female  but  not  in  the  male,  and  which  is  therefore 
supposed  to  be  associated  with  the  determination  of  sex. 

Acquired  character.  Modification  of  hereditary  characters  due  to  environ- 
ment or  habits  of  life. 

Adaptation.  The  "  fit "  which  is  brought  about  between  the  environment  and 
the  species.    See  Natural  selection  and  Survival  of  the  fittest. 

Advanced  registry.  A  registry  based  on  performance  and  not  simply  upon 
pedigree. 

Ancestry.  Those  members  of  past  generations  that  are  related  to  any  given 
individual  by  descent. 

Average  deviation.  A  mathematical  expression  measuring  variability  obtained 
by  averaging  the  deviation  of  all  individuals  from  the  mean  of  the  race  or 
population. 

Breed.    A  definite  variety  or  strain  of  animal  bred  to  a  special  type. 

Breeding.  The  intelligent  combining  of  known  blood  lines  in  either  animal 
or  plant  production.    Specifically,  also,  the  mating  of  animals. 

Biophere.  A  term  used  by  Weismann  (pronounced  Visemdn)  to  denote  the 
smallest  conceivable  unit  of  living  matter. 

Castration.  The  removal,  by  the  knife,  of  the  testicles  of  the  male,  thus  pre- 
venting reproduction. 

Character.  Any  trait,  faculty,  or  physical  feature  of  the  individual  or  species 
that  can  be  identified  and  more  or  less  accurately  described. 

Characters,  dominant.  The  more  prominent  of  two  mutually  exclusive  char- 
acters, and  which  therefore  characterize  three  fourths  of  the  offspring  of  hybrid 
parents. 

Characters,  latent.  Those  racial  characters  that  remain  undeveloped  and 
therefore  unnoticed  in  a  given  individual,  but  which  may  appear  in  his 
descendants  because  belonging  to  the  ancestry. 

Characters,  recessive.  The  less  conspicuous  of  two  characters  which  are 
mutually  exclusive,  and  which  therefore  characterize  but  one  fourth  of  the 
offspring  of  hybrid  parents. 

312 


GLOSSARY  313 

Chromomeres.    See  Chromatin  granules. 

Chromosomes.  The  dots,  rods,  rings,  or  other  bodies  that  exist  in  definite 
numbers  in  the  nucleus  and  that  derive  their  name  from  the  readiness  with 
which  they  assume  color  under  the  various  staining  reagents  employed  by 
biologists  to  bring  out  structural  differences  under  the  microscope. 

Chromatin  granules.  The  minute  granular  masses  of  which  the  chromosomes 
appear  to  be  composed ;  synonymous  with  chromomeres. 

Cross  breeding.    Synonymous  with  crossing. 

Crossing.  The  fertilizing  of  one  species  by  the  male  of  another  species, 
race,  or  variety.    Synonymous  with  cross  breeding. 

Cytoplasm.    The  cell  contents  that  surround  the  nucleus. 

Degenerate.  The  individual  which  has  inherited  in  strong  degree  the  worst 
characters  of  his  race  with  few  or  none  of  the  best,  though  he  may  have  one 
or  more  exceptional  faculties. 

Determinant.  Such  an  association  of  ids  (Weismann)  as  may  be  able  to  fix 
the  character  of  a  part  in  its  development. 

Development.  Progressive  change ;  specifically  the  appearance  of  racial 
characters  in  the  individual  as  growth  proceeds. 

Differentiation.  The  appearance  of  distinctly  differing  organs  and  parts 
during  and  after  embryonic  development. 

Dominant  characters.    See  Characters,  dominant. 

Dwarf.  The  individual  in  which  the  process  of  growth  has  been  arrested 
abnormally  early.    See  Giant. 

Embryo.    The  fertilized  ovum  after  growth  and  differentiation  begin. 

Embryonic  development.    Growth  and  differentiation  of  the  embryo. 

Environment.  The  conditions  of  life  as  a  whole,  both  good  and  bad,  that  sur- 
round the  individual  or  the  species,  by  which  it  may  be  either  benefited  or 
oppressed,  but  with  which  it  must  live  and  compete. 

Eugenics.  The  doctrine  that  human  beings  should  be  well  born  by  attention 
in  marriage  to  the  well-known  facts  of  heredity. 

Evolution.  The  theory  that  species  originate  by  development  from  other 
and  preexisting  species  by  means  of  more  or  less  gradual  modifications  either 
through  crossing  or  the  influence  of  the  environment,  or  both;  over  against  the 
older  theory  that  each  species  was  specially  and  separately  created,  and  that 
it  remains  unchanged  and  unchangeable. 

Fetus.    The  more  or  less  perfectly  developed  embryo  before  birth. 

Gamete.    The  fertilized  ovum  or  ovule. 

Genetics.  The  science  of  breeding  from  the  standpoint  of  the  transmission 
of  hereditary  characters  without  regard  to  the  influence  of  environment. 

Germ  plasm.  Reproductive  or  sex  cells  in  general,  without  reference  to 
sex. 

Germinal  matter.    Synonymous  with  germ  plasm. 

Giant.  The  individual  in  which  cell  division  and  growth  have  proceeded 
beyond  the  normal.    See  Dwarf. 


314        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Grading.    Breeding  scrub  or  unpedigreed  stock  to  registered  males. 

Heredity.    The  transmission  of  racial  characters  from  ancestry  to  offspring. 

Hybrid.  The  offspring  of  hybridization,  carrying  the  blood  of  two  or  more 
species  or  races. 

Hybridizing.  That  kind  of  crossing  in  which  the  male  and  female  are  of 
different  species  or  of  distinctly  different  races. 

Id.  A  term  used  by  Weismann  to  denote  an  orderly  and  definite  association 
of  biopheres  operating  together  towards  the  determination  of  a  definite 
character. 

Latent  characters.    See  Characters,  latent. 

Mammals.  Certain  species  of  higher  animals  in  which  the  fertilized  ovum  is 
retained  and  embryonic  development  takes  place  inside  the  body  of  the  mother 
until  birth ;  specifically,  those  species  which  suckle  the  young. 

Maturation.  The  final  stages  of  division  in  sex  cells  just  before  attaining  the 
conditions  suitable  for  fertilization. 

Mean.    The  average. 

Mendel's  law.  The  law  which  states  the  way  in  which  racial  characters  will 
be  distributed  among  the  offspring  of  hybrid  parents. 

Methodical  selection.  The  imitation  by  man  of  the  operation  of  natural  selec- 
tion as  he  attempts  to  secure  the  favorable  development  of  especially  desirable 
characters  in  domesticated  animals  and  plants. 

Mimicry.  The  resemblance  of  one  species  to  another  or  to  some  natural 
object  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  protective  against  possible  enemies. 

Mitosis.  The  process  of  cell  division  in  ordinary  growth.  See  also 
Maturation. 

Mode.    The  most  common  or  typical  value  of  a  racial  character. 

Mutant.  An  individual  or  strain  essentially  new  and  produced  spontaneously 
by  nature  thfough  crossing,  bud  variation,  or  otherwise ;  synonymous  with  the 
older  term  "  sport." 

Mutation.    The  production  of  mutants  or  sports,  which  see. 

Natural  selection.  The  oppressive  effect  of  the  environment  by  which  many 
individuals  are  unable  to  endure,  and  which  therefore  operates  to  destroy  a 
large  proportion  of  the  race.  Those  which  are  able  to  endure  the  hard  fea- 
tures of  the  environment  not  only  survive,  but,  prospering  by  other  conditions, 
are  said  to  be  selected  in  this  natural  way. 

Nucleus.  That  part  of  the  cell  which  contains  the  chromosomes,  which 
takes  the  lead  in  cell  division,  and  which  seems  normally  to  be  equally  divided 
between  the  daughter  cells,  whether  in  ordinary  growth  or  in  maturation. 

Ovary.    The  organ  in  which  the  ova  or  female  reproductive  cells  develop. 

Oviporous.  Said  of  species  which  lay  eggs  in  which,  like  birds,  the  em- 
bryonic development  takes  place  outside  the  body  of  the  mother  by  the 
process  of  hatching. 

Ovule.  The  female  sex  cell  of  the  higher  plants,  which,  upon  fertilization  by 
the  pollen  cell,  is  capable  of  developing  into  a  new  plant. 


GLOSSARY  315 

Ovum.  The  animal  female  sex  .cell,  which,  when  fertilized  by  the  male  sex 
cell,  is  capable  of  developing  into  a  new  individual.    Plural,  ova. 

Pedigree.  The  ancestry  of  an  animal  or  plant;  especially  the  list  of  the 
names  and  registry  numbers. 

Pedigree  register.  The  official  publication  in  which  pedigrees  are  printed, 
each  breed  having  its  own. 

Physiological  unit.  A  term  used  by  Galton  and  others  to  denote  those 
ultimate  particles  of  living  matter  that  determine  characters,  covering  the 
same  general  conception  that  later  was  covered  by  Weismann  with  his  more 
minute  distinctions  of  biopheres,  ids,  and  determinants. 

Pollen.    The  male  sex  cells  of  higher  plants. 

Pollen  grain.    A  single  cell  of  pollen. 

Progression.    Advance  as  measured  by  the  ancestry. 

Protective  coloring.  Any  color  effects  which,  by  mimicry  or  otherwise,  make 
the  animal  less  conspicuous. 

Protoplasm.    Living  matter  in  general. 

Pure  breeding.  Mating  only  registered  animals  together.  Coming  to  be  used 
also  in  plant  breeding. 

Pure  bred.    An  animal  or  plant  whose  ancestry  is  registered  on  both  sides. 

Recessive  characters.    See  Characters,  recessive. 

Reduction.  The  halving  of  the  characteristic  number  of  chromosomes  dur- 
ing the  process  of  maturation. 

Registration.  The  filing  for  print  with  the  officers  of  a  breeding  association 
of  the  pedigree  of  a  pure-bred  animal. 

Regression.  The  tendency  of  individuals  toward  the  mean  of  the  race, 
whether  the  immediate  parentage  be  better  or  inferior  to  the  average. 

Reversion.  An  instance  in  which  the  offspring  resembles  a  remote  ancestor 
more  closely  than  it  does  the  immediate  parent. 

Score  card.  A  scale  of  points  upon  which  breeds  or  individuals  may  be 
assessed  and  judged,  character  by  character  and  point  by  point. 

Scrub.    An  animal  that  has  little  or  no  pure  blood  in  its  ancestry. 

Selection.  In  general,  the  limiting  of  reproduction  to  certain  favored  indi- 
viduals, either  by  nature  or  by  man. 

Selection,  methodical.  The  selective  process  as  carried  on  by  man  in  order 
to  accomplish  changes  especially  desired  by  him.    See  Methodical  selection. 

Selection,  natural.  The  selective  process  as  determined  by  the  environment. 
See  Natural  selection. 

Spaying.  The  removal  of  the  ovaries  of  the  female,  thus  preventing 
reproduction. 

Spermatozoon.    The  male  sex  cell  among  higher  animals.   Plural,  spermatozoa. 

Sport.    See  Mutant. 

Standard  deviation.  A  mathematical  measure  of  variability  the  same  as 
average  deviation,  except  that  the  several  deviations  are  squared  in  determin- 
ing its  value.    See  Average  deviation. 


31 6        DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 

Survival  of  the  fittest.  The  triumph  of  those  individuals  which  are  able  to 
compete  successfully  with  the  environment. 

Testis.  The  organ  in  which  the  spermatozoa  or  male  reproductive  cells 
develop.    Synonymous  with  testicle.    Plural,  testes. 

Thoroughbred.  The  name  of  the  English  running  horse,  often  improperly 
used  for  pure  bred. 

Thremmatology.  The  science  and  practice  of  improving  domesticated  ani- 
mals and  plants. 

Throwing  back.    Synonymous  with  reversion. 

Type.  The  most  usual  form  of  a  character  or  of  an  individual ;  also  used  for 
the  form  that  is  desired  in  attempted  improvement. 

Unit  character.  The  smallest  element  that  physiologically  tends  to  behave 
more  or  less  independently  in  the  formation  of  plant  or  animal  characters. 

Unregistered  stock.  Animals  that  are  undoubtedly  of  pure  breeding  but 
whose  pedigrees  have  been  neglected  or  lost. 

Use  and  disuse.  The  effect  of  use  or  disuse  upon  the  development  of  an 
hereditary  character  and  its  consequent  retention  or  loss  by  the  individual 
or  race. 

Uterus.  The  female  part  in  which  the  embryo  develops  and  from  which  it 
separates  at  birth.    Synonymous  with  womb. 

Variation.  The  fact  that  individuals  of  the  same  race  and  breeding  are  not 
alike,  but  differ  more  or  less  among  themselves. 

Zygote.    That  portion  of  the  gamete  which  determines  a  unit  character. 


INDEX^ 


Adaptation,  accidental  nature  of,  8i ; 
not  perfect,  87 

Advanced  registry,  183 

Agriculture,  beginnings  of,  23 

Albino  deer,  102* 

Albinos,  151 

Alfalfa,  inoculation  for,  261  ;  origin 
of,  260 

Alpaca,  238 

Ancestral  heredity,  law  of,  166 

Animals,  as  a  means  of  recreation,  8  ; 
as  sources  of  clothing,  4  ;  as  sources 
of  food,  3  ;  as  sources  of  raw  ma- 
terial, 8  ;  as  sources  of  shelter,  5  ; 
cost  of  maintaining,  35  ;  domesti- 
cated, need  of  improvement  in,  35  ; 
feral,  18;  further  improvement 
needed,  37  ;  medicinal  properties 
of,  9 ;  not  used  in  domestication, 
30 ;  service  of,  28  ;  service  of,  too 
costly,  39 ;  •  systematic  improve- 
ment of,   178 

Apple,  origin  of,  267 

Arrested  development,  132 

Ass,  215  ;  wild,  22 

Aurochs,  16,  225,  226 

Average  deviation,  109 

Aztecs,  247 ;  hunts  of,  24 ;  semido- 
mestication  by,  24 

Babiroussa,  233 

Baby  beef,  196 

Bailey,  "  Survival  of  the  Unlike,"  97 

Banff,  head  of  herd  at,  223* 

Banteng,  221 

Barley,  origin  of,  245 

"  Battle  in  the  Meadows,"  63 

Beal,  book  on  grasses,  255 

Bean,  origin  of,  263  ;  soy,  265 

Beef,  baby,  196 

Betel  nut,  295 

Bighorn,  227 

Bison,  American,  31*,  55*,  223* 


Bloodhound,  209 

Blue  grass,  origin  of,  254 

Boar,  wild,  16,  231 

Bones,  splint,  213 

Bos  frontosus,  225 

Bos  longifrons,  225 

Bos  primigeftus,  220,  224,  226 

Breed,  choosing  of,  194;  differences 

slight,  195 
Breeding,   mixed,  186;   power  of,  to 

modify    type,    93-95 ;    pure,    187 ; 

rate     of    improvement    by,      190 ; 

systems  of,  186 
Brilliant,  6* 
Broom  corn,  252 
Buckwheat,  origin  of,  253 
Buffalo  Bill,  224 
Buffalo,  of  Asia,  222;  service  of,  6; 

water,  218* 
Burro,  7* 
Bush  pig,  233 

Camel,  238 ;  service  of,  7 

Canada  thistle,  299 

Castle,  W.  E.,  work  illustrated,  147, 
149 

Cat,  European  and  American,  234* ; 
origin  of,  233 ;  relatives  of,  234 ; 
true  nature  of,  235 

Cattle,  humped,  219;  Indian,  219; 
of  Chillingham  Park,  225;  Short- 
horn, 11;  Teeswater,  178;  wild 
White,  225 

Celery  compound,  294 

Cells,  division  of,  131 

Character,  single,  variability  of,  105 

Characters,  behavior  of,  in  trans- 
mission, 141  ;  both  good  and  bad 
transmitted,  171;  correlation  of, 
loi  ;  developed  and  latent,  100; 
dominant  and  recessive,  loi,  146; 
how  transmitted,  121  ;  individual 
possesses    those  of   the   race,   99  ■ 


1  References  to  figures  are  indicated  by  an  asterisk,  as  189*, 
317 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


latent,  loo;  lost,  102;  new,  103; 
tend  to  combine  in  definite  propor- 
tions, 141  ;  that  do  not  blend,  144 

Cherry,  origin  of,  271 

Chess,  299 

Chillingham  cattle,  225 

Chromosomes,  125,  127 

Cipo,  25 

Civilization,  aided  by  slavery,  27 ; 
requires  domestication,  26 

Clothing,  sources  of,  4 

Clover,  kinds  of,  258;*origin  of,  259; 
sweet,  261 

Coal,  source  of,  5 

Coca,  294 

Coefficient  of  variability,  112 

Cocklebur,  299 

Collie  and  coyote  contrasted,  22* 

Color,  causes  of,  77 

Competition  greatest  between  indi- 
viduals of  the  same  species,  61 

Corn,  broom,  252  ;  Indian,  origin  of, 
246;  meaning  of  term,  246;  polli- 
nation of,  injured  by  rain,  54 

Corncob,  hand-shaped,  138* 

Correlation  of  characters,  loi 

Cotton,  296 

Cow,  choice  butcher,  189*  ;  medium 
butcher,  191* 

Cowpea,  265 

Coyote  and  collie  contrasted,  22* 

Creation  not  finished,  12 

Crossing,  187  ;  in  plant  improvement, 
199;  may  give  a  pure  race,  148 

Curve  of  frequency,  plotting  of,  106 


Domesticated  animals  and  plants, 
need  of  improvement  in,  35 

Domesticated  races,  come  from  the 
wild,  14;  variation  of,  11  ;  where 
originated,  11  ;  wild  relatives  of,  12 

Domestication,  a  gradual  process,  16, 
32  ;  first  steps  of,  in  the  hunt,  24 ; 
in  civilization,  26 ;  for  additional 
food,  22  ;  for  clothing  and  shelter, 
25;  for  the  hunt,  21;  generally 
means  improvement,  14,  35 ;  his- 
tory of,  how  known,  17;  often 
means  readjustment,  91  ;  result  of 
necessity,  20 ;  unwelcome,  239 

Dominant  characters,  loi,  146;  be- 
havior of,  200 

Dorset,  227* 

Duck,  origin  of,  236 

Dwarfing,  131 

Environment,  adds  no  unit  charac- 
ters, 174;  and  heredity,  171  ;  func- 
tion of,  173  ;  mistaken  estimate  of, 
171  ;  modifications  due  to,  175 

Eskimo  dog,  216 

Feeder,  choice,  187*;  inferior,  185* 

Feral  as  distinct  from  wild,  18 

Fertilization,  124 

Festucas,  the,  255 

Fittest,  survival  of,  64 

Flax,  296 

Food,  competition  for,  54 ;  sources  of,  3 

Frequency  curve,  plotting  of,  106 

Fruits,  origin  of,  267 


Dachshund,  209 

Dane,  210* 

Darwin,  "Origin  of  Species,"  52 

Davenport,  C.  B.,  "  Statistical  Meth- 
ods," 120 

Deer,  albino,  102 

Degeneracy,  163 

Dehorning,  91 

Design  in  nature,  77 

Development,  128;  arrested,  132; 
going  wrong,  130 

Deviation,  average,  109;  standard, 
III 

Differentiation,  128 

Dingo,  208* 

Distribution,  106;  sample  of,  118, 
119 

Dog,  contrasted  with  wolf,  22*;  origin 
of,  22,  207 


Galla  ox,  222 

Galton,  studies,  155 

Gas,  source  of,  5 

Gaur,  219,  220* 

Gayal,  220 

Giants,  132 

Goat,  origin  of,  231 

Goose,  origin  of,  236 

Grading,  187 

Grape,  wild,  15* 

Grasses,  book  on,  by  Beal,  225;  mis- 
cellaneous, 255;  origin  of,  254 

Grouping,  suggestions  as  to,  114 

(irowth,  128;  as  determined  by  leaf 
surface,  61  ;  termination  of,  129 

Growths,  abnormal,  140 

Guinea  fowl,  238 

Guinea  pigs,  behavior  of,  under 
Mendel's  law,  147-149 


INDEX 


319 


Hachwalt,  "  Dogcraft,"  97 

Hand,  double,  136 

Heat,  sources  of,  5 

Hemp,  297 

Hen,  origin  of,  235  ;  relatives  of,  236 

Heredity,     1 54 ;     and    environment, 

171;    complex    nature  of,    154;   in 

stature,  1 56  ;  law  of,  1 66 
Hibernation,  91 
Hindu  cattle,  219 
Horn,  compounded,  138 
Horny  growth,    abnormal,    on    deer, 

139* 
Horse,  evolution  of,   214;   origin  of, 

22,  211;  prehistoric,  212*;  service 

of,  7 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  25 
Hybridization  complicated,  i  50 

Improvement  complicated,  by  hybrid- 
ization, I  50  ;  by  crossing,  i  50  ;  by 
domestication,  14;  by  selection, 
198;  herd  and  breed,  192;  rate  of, 
190;  rational,  193 

Indian  cattle,  219 

Indians,  dogs  of,  22  ;  food  of,  23 

Individual,  a  composite,  169;  chance 
of  resembling  a  particular  ances- 
tor, 168 

Inoculation, .  described,  258 ;  for 
alfalfa,  261 

Jersey,  47*,  226* 

Kitchen  middens,  17 

Law  of  ancestral  heredity,  166;  of 
the  wild,  20 

Legumes,  inoculation  for,  258; 
special  meaning  of,  257 

Lentil,  262 

Lettuce,  wild,  299 

Life,  abundance  of,  50  ;  length  of,  sig- 
nificant, 69 ;  sacred  character  of,  29 

Light,  sources  of,  5 

Llama,  238 

Longevity,  figure  of  Old  Dick,  89 

Lupine,  265 

Man,  dependence  of,  upon  animal 
labor,  6;  primitive,  disadvantages 
of,  20 ;  ingenuity  of,  21;  need  for 
clothing'  and  shelter,  25;  need  for 
labor,  26 

Market,  knowledge  of,  necessary,  197 


Market  classes  and  grades,  196 

Mean,  107 

Measurements,     suggestions     as     to 

taking,  113 
Medicines,  sources  of,  9 
Mediocrity  the  common  lot,  157 
Mendel's   law,   few    individuals    pure 

under,   149;    illustrated,    147,    149; 

of  hybrids,  145  ;  new  races  by,  148 
Millet,  origin  of,  253 
Mimicry,  75  ;  butterfly  and  leaf,  76* 
Monkeys,  limit  of  intelligence  of,  21 
Mule,  216 
Mumford,  illustrations  from,  185,  187, 

189,  191,  192,  194,  196 
Mutants,  150 
Mutation,  150 
Mystery  confined  to  the  unfamiliar,  78 

Natural    conditions,    selective   effect 

of,  53 
Natural  selection,  63  ;  always  at  work, 

93  ;  and  progressive  development, 

83  ;  effects  of,  83  ;    results  of,  not 

always  useful  to  us,  90 
Nature,  design  in,  i"]  ;  impartiality  of. 

Nectarine  and  peach,  151 

Nitrogen,  cost  of,  258;  secured  by 
legumes,  257 

Numbers,  significance  of,  69  ;  sugges- 
tions as  to,  117 

Oats,  origin  of,  249 

Offspring,  compared  with  the  parent, 
154-160  ;  compared  with  the  parent 
and  remote  ancestors,  166;  excep- 
tional, and  its  parentage,  163;  not 
like  parent,  157;  of  exceptional 
parent,  159 

Old  Dick,  89* 

Opium  poppy,  294 

Orchard  grass,  255 

Ovule,  function  of,  125 

Ovum,  function  of,  125 

Ox,  endurance  of,  28  ;  origin  of,  219; 
service  of,  6 

Pack  mule,  service  of,  7 

Parent,  compared  with  offspring, 
154-160;  exceptional,  his  off- 
spring, 159 

Park  cattle,  225 

Passenger  pigeon,  93* 

Pea,  origin  of  the,  264 


320 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS 


Peach,  and  nectarine,  151  ;  origin  of, 
271 

Peacock,  238 

Pear,  origin  of,  269 

Pearson,  work  of,  167 

Pedigree  registers,  179 

Penholder,  133 

Petroleum,  source  of,  5 

Pig,  bush,  233  ;  origin  of,  231;  rela- 
tives of,  231 

Pigeons,  varieties  of,  93-95 

Pine,  Jack,  54 

Plant  breeding,  records  in,  202 

Plant  improvement,  Mendel's  law  in, 
199 

Plant  lice,  increase  of,  51 

Planting,  systems  of,  202 

Plants  as  sources  of  clothing,  4  ;  as 
sources  of  food,  3 ;  as  sources  of 
heat  and  light,  5 ;  as  sources  of 
raw  material,  8 ;  as  sources  of 
shelter,  5 ;  cultivated,  origin  of, 
241  ;  domesticated,  need  of  im- 
provement in,  35;  improvement 
of,  198;  medicinal  properties  of, 
9 ;  ornamental,  298 

Plow,  the  primitive,  26 

Plum,  origin  of,  269 

Plumb,  Types  and  Breeds  of  Farm 
Animals,  97 

Pointer,  209 

Pollen,  function  of,  125 

Poodle,  209 

Poppy,  opium,  294 

Prairie  chicken,  224 

Prime  steer,  194* 

Progression,  160 

Protective  coloring,  74 

Pure  bred,  178 

Python,  legs  of,  133 

Quagga,  217 

Recessive    characters,    behavior   of, 

loi,  146,  200 
Redtop,  origin  of,  254 
Registry,  advanced,  183 
Reversion,  163 
Rice,  origin  of,  250 
Room,  competition  for,  58 
Rye,  origin  of,  249 

Samples,   suggestions   as   to   taking, 

117 
Scrubs,  185 


Selection,  effect  of,  in  making  a  "  fit," 
85;  effect  of,  upon  the  individual, 
84  ;  effect  of,  upon  the  species,  84  ; 
improvement  by,  198;  individual 
and  the  race  contrasted,  85;  our 
standards  different  from  those  of 
nature,  88 ;  power  of,  to  modify 
type,  93-95  ;  the  individual  and  the 
race,  66 

Selective  effect  of  natural  conditions, 

53 
Setter,  209 
Sheep,  breeds  of,  230 ;  domesticated, 

229*  ;    fat-tailed,    230 ;     origin    of, 

227  ;  relatives  of,  229;  wild,  228 
Shelter,  sources  of,  5 
Shorthorn  cattle,  origin  of,  11 
Silk,  elongated,  123* 
Sir  Donald  of  Banff,  223* 
Sires,  source  of,  192 
Six  Nations,  247  ;  civilization  of  the, 

17  ;  food  of,  23 
Slavery,  civilizing  effect  of,  27 
Sorghum,  origin  of,  251  ;  strains  of, 

251 

Soy  bean,  265 

Spermatozoon,  function  of,  125 

Splint  bones,  213 

Standard  deviation,  iii 

Statistical  studies,  advantages  of,  118 

Stature,  table  of,  156 

Steer,  baby  beef,  196*;  common 
rough,   192*;  prime,   194* 

Struggle  for  existence,  52 

Sugar  cane,  origin  of,  252 

Survival  of  the  fittest,  64 ;  signifi- 
cance of  numbers,  vigor,  length  of 
life,  69 ;  significance  of  weapons, 
71 

Swan,  238 

Sweet  clover,  261 

Tarpan,  211 

Thistle,  Canada,  299 

Thoroughbred,  179 

Timothy,  origin  of,  254 

Tobacco,  295 

Toltecs,  247 

Transmission,  machinery  of,  122;  of 
unit  characters,  121  ;  table  of 
stature,  156 

Turkey,  224 ;  origin  of,  237 ;  rela- 
tives of,  237 

Type  modified  by  selection,  93 

Types,  106 


INDEX 


21 


Unit  characters,  98  ;  misplaced,  1 38  ; 

species  composed  of,  98 
Unused  materials,  30 
Urus,  225 

Variability,  coefficient  of,  112 ;  eco- 
nomic significance  of,  44  ;  from 
type,  109;  in  a  single  character,  47; 
in  milk  production,  40;  in  pigeons, 
93-95;  of  a  single  character,  105 

Variation  of  domesticated  races,  1 1 

Vetch,  264 

Vigor,  significance  of,  69 

Wart  hog,  233 

Way  of  the  wild,  50 

Weapons,  defensive,  significance  of,  7 1 


Weeds,  29S 

Weeping  habit,  151 

Wheat  of  lake  dwellers,  265 ;  ori- 
gin of,  242  ;  strains  of,  243 

Wild  ass,  22 

Wild  boar,  16,  231 

Wild  grape,  15* 

Wild  lettuce,  299 

Wild  white  cattle,  225 

Wolf,  contrasted  with  dog,  22  ;  domes- 
tication of,  13*,  21;  of  South  Amer- 
ica, 208 

Women,  primitive,  hard  lot  of,  27 

Yak,  221* 
Zebra,  217 


J 


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